At one point, she was considering burning her copy of “Holy Blood, Holy Grail.” She opened her Bible and discovered a verse in the book of Kings: “Restore my wife, who is espoused to me.”

“I didn’t know what to do. I was horrified, I was scared,” she said. “This had to be reconciled. I couldn’t just walk away from it. I had to go out and do something.”

She thought what she had learned so far meant that there must be “a design flaw in Christianity from the beginning” by the suppression of the lost bride.

Starbird sought the answers to these questions:

• Could Jesus have been so human as to have been married?

• If so, then to whom?

• How could we not have known about this woman?

She began her theological studies at divinity school after moving to Nashville. Seeking a topic for a paper she had to write on the gospels, she opened her Bible again. She opened to the book of Mark, the story about a woman with an alabaster jar anointing Jesus with precious perfume. Such was the genesis of her first book.

Starbird has continued her studies and research, gaining renown over the years. She has a master of arts from the University of Maryland, and has done graduate study in European history and comparative literature. She has studied at Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, where she was a Fulbright fellow, and at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn. She has traveled extensively and taught numerous classes in scripture study and spirituality, according to biographical information in her books.

She said the story about the woman anointing Jesus is one of only four or five stories included in all four gospels. The story of the last supper, or Eucharist, is not even mentioned in all four.

“Does that give you an idea of the importance of the anointing scene?” she said. “As I studied this I realized this must have been an important day, this anointing of Jesus by this woman.”

The stories do vary.

“Her name is not mentioned in Mark, and Matthew copies Mark,” she said.

Luke, a follower of Paul (who has been well-known for some of his statements regarding the role of women), moves the scene of the anointing from Bethany, and describes the woman as a sinner. John, the last of the four gospel authors, names her as Mary, sister of Lazarus of Bethany. The anointing in John took place shortly before the crucifixion, and in the text Jesus anticipated his impending death.

Starbird said Messiah means “anointed one,” and this is the only time there is any reference to someone anointing Jesus. Her books mention previous anointments of Jewish kings by priests.