OUP is to be congratulated for having launched a new series of critical editions of early non-canonical (‘apocryphal’) Christian gospels, Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts, under the general editorship of Christopher Tuckett and Andrew Gregory. The first title to appear is an edition of the Gospel of Mary by Tuckett. It appears to be a post-Easter ‘dialogue’ gospel; its title seems to imply that Mary is the key character in it, rather than its author. This is the gospel that has Mary (Magdalene) described by the disciples as the one loved by Jesus above other women and more than the male disciples. Inevitably these statements giving Mary Magdalene such elevated status have occasioned many rash deductions by various scholars, especially by those espousing feminist causes. It is splendid therefore to have here the surviving remains of this work (a second-century Christian Gnostic text) set out objectively. Commendably clear plates of the Berlin Coptic version, the fullest available with nine surviving pages, plus two Greek fragments (which overlap the Coptic) are provided. Their contents are also printed and there is an English translation. Preceding all this is part i, which is a helpful, general introduction to the unity, genre, dramatis personae and Gnostic character of the work. Critical notes on the deciphering of the manuscripts are included. In part iii we have a commentary. (The contents page fails to indicate the starting page of this section.) Throughout his introduction and especially in his commentary, Tuckett is (wisely) cautious about reading too much into the text. Where the work now opens we read of a discussion already underway concerning the world, the nature of matter and suffering. There then follows a hortatory commissioning scene close to the New Testament. Following these discourses, given by the saviour, Mary enters and in a sense replaces the saviour. She then reveals a vision of Jesus that she has received. When the text resumes after a lacuna we read of a soul's journeying past hostile powers. The novelty of having a woman as the bearer of a revelation from the risen saviour is balanced by her being supported by Levi. The two are in effect in debate with the other male disciples, represented in this gospel by Peter and Andrew. The debate is thus not between a woman and the disciples en bloc. Tuckett sees in this gospel an historical record of a (relatively mild) debate between Gnostic and non-Gnostic Christians in the second century. Both sides are in dialogue and this ‘gospel’ is an attempt to promote among the proto-orthodox its own Gnostic teachings. The Gnostic teachings themselves as represented here are therefore less important than the debate following about their veracity. Parallels and allusions within the Gospel of Mary to writings that were later to be included in the New Testament show that this gospel developed in an area where Jesus material was known. This series has got off to a flying start and Christopher Tuckett is to be congratulated for having set out fully and clearly and with impressive cross-referencing to modern scholarship a detailed and readable introduction to an enigmatic text. Future study of the Gospel of Mary cannot afford to ignore this monograph.