7: Gospel of Mary Flashcards
Have an overall idea of how Mary Magdalene is portrayed in the Synoptic gospels
Mary Magdalene is one of the, if not the most prominent woman friend/acquaintance of Jesus in the canonical gospels.
Mary Magdalene is equally mentioned in all of the gospels, especially in the passion, death and resurrection scenes of Jesus.
Catholics take mother Mary to be the most important, as she is prominent in Luke. However, Mary Magdalene is much more prominent throughout the entire NT.
Many scholars think Mary Magdalene means Mary from Magdalena.
Mary Magdalene’s Role as a Witness in the NT
In the canonical gospels, Mary Magdalene is portrayed as having a very prominent role as witness to Christ’s passion, death and resurrection in different capacities
MYSTERY: we are not sure what role she played after Jesus’ resurrection in the earliest Christian communities
Link to passages that mention Mary Magdalene in the NT
Mary, “Apostle to the Apostles”
Mary is one of the first witnesses of Jesus. This is an honourable title. Mary Magdalen has been called this because “apostle” means “sent”; someone who is “sent” to deliver a message. Mary was sent to the apostles by the risen Christ to bring tidings of the resurrection (John 20:18)
The Church father Hippolytus (170-236 CE) makes reference to “female apostles” (including Mary Magdalene)
Paul names “Junia” an “apostle” in Romans. However, Paul does not mention Mary Magdalene in his list of apostles. 1 Corinthians is the earliest reference to the resurrection that we have.
Was Mary Magdalene created by later evangelists? Not probable. Was Paul a misogynist? It does not seem so.
Was Mary Magdalene a prostitute?
Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, but tradition morphed her into one by associating her demons with sexual sin (prostitution)
Luke 8:1-13: After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another - The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out - and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Demons were very prominent in first century Palestine, and so anything could have been attributed to an evil spirit (e.g. illnesses, such as schizophrenia)
Mary had demons in her and Jesus made her whole again. Along the way, people associated those demons with sexual sin. This is why Mary Magdalene morphs into a prostitute in the Christian tradition.
Mary in Roman Catholic Tradition
591 Pope Gregory the Great identifies Mary Magdalene with the prostitute found in Luke 7
Was that intentional smearing? An honest mistake?
In Luke 7, Jesus deals with a sinful woman who cries at his feet, but she is unnamed. Pope Gregory identifies that the unnamed sinful woman at the end of Chapter 7 is Mary Magdalene who is mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 8. This began a tradition that has persisted throughout the history of the Church that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute (sinner) earlier in her life and then was converted into a fervent Christian.
Biblically speaking, this association between the sinful woman of Luke 7 and Mary Magdalene in Luke 8 is not warranted (it is unfair; a distinction should be made). Luke leaves the one in 7 unnamed.
In the Gospel of Mary, what do Peter and Andrew represent? What does Mary Magdalene represent? (important!)**
Peter and Andrew: Apostolic Tradition (Proto-Orthodox Emphasis)
Mary Magdalene: Prophetic Revelation (Gnostic Emphasis)
Apostolic Tradition (Proto-Orthodox Emphasis)
Peter and Andrew represent the mainstream “apostolic tradition”
Apostolic Tradition: the traditional thinking that truth emanates from the teaching of the apostles who, in turn, received the correct teaching from Jesus himself.
The Proto-Orthodox emphasized the “apostolic tradition.”
Prophetic Revelation (Gnostic Emphasis)
Mary Magdalene represents the prophetic revelation.
Prophetic Revelation: revelation given to special chosen individuals directly by Jesus. This is also known as the “charismatic dimension” of revelation (revelation given as a free gift to some special individuals).
The Gnostics emphasized prophetic revelation.
Prophetic Revelation is largely unrelated to the apostolic tradition, and hard to control. In the earliest stage of Christianity, Paul could be thought of as representing the prophetic revelation strain; he claimed that the risen Christ revealed things to him and he did not depend on the apostles.
Mary’s Vision
Peter said to Mary, “Sister we know that the Saviour loved you more than the rest of woman. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.” Mary answered and said, “What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.” And she began to speak to them these words: “I,” she said, “I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to Him, Lord I saw you today in a vision.“
Almost all of Mary’s vision is lost within the pages
When Mary had said these things, she fell silent, since it was up to this point that the Savior had spoken to her.
Doubting Mary
Mary is then confronted by Andrew and Peter, who do not take for granted what she says, because she is a woman:
“Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?”
Then Mary grieved and said to Peter, “My brother Peter, what do you think> Do you think that I thought this up myself in my heart or that I am lying concerning the Savior?“
Mary is defended by Levi: “But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the Savior knew her very well. For this reason he loved her more than us.”
Be prepared to comment on the section in the gospel of Philip where Jesus kisses Mary (possibly) on the mouth
The Gospel of Philip (on Mary) - 3rd century?
“There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.”
Mary’s sister would literally be Jesus’ aunt. No mention is ever made of Mary’s sister in the Gospels. There are other Marys mentioned in the Gospels, and some speculate that one of these might have been Mary’s, Jesus’ mother, sister. Companion usually meant wife at this time, but not necessarily so.
That seems to speculate that there was more to Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s relationship than just Master-Disciple.
As for the Wisdom who is called “the barren,” she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of the […] Mary Magdalene […] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her [mouth].
It has been suggested that kissing on the mouth is done metaphorically to impart knowledge. This might strengthen the argument that this is a Gnostic gospel. Some takes this to be romantic, others take this to be metaphoric, it might be both. But the imparting of knowledge seems to be the primary interpretation.
The rest of the disciples […]. They said to him”Why do you love her more than all of us?” The Savior answered and said to them “Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness.””
This Gospel of Philip also favours Mary Magdalene as a companion of Jesus.
Suppression of the Sacred Feminine in Early Christianity
The Sacred Feminine can be reasonably proven to have been repressed in Christianity in significant ways because Christianity took on the patriarchal mindset of the cultures in which it was embedded.
Early Christianity was influenced by the patriarchal structures of the world in which it was embedded and this influence is clearly reflected in the many negative and condescending view that leaders (men) expressed about women
(e.g. the figure of Mary Magdalene identified with the prostitute)
“Fathers of the Church” viewed women as
Inferior to men
“Temptresses”
Belonging to the “private” not “public” sphere (different roles)
Not fully God’s image
Comment on the Gospel of Mary being an invitation to recover the sacred feminine. Why should the sacred feminine be recovered at all?**
The Gospel of Mary depicts Mary Magdalene as equal to the male Apostles (if not superior) because Jesus reveals the secret revelations to her over his male apostles. This shows that she does not have a different and inferior role from her male counterparts, and also shows that she is fully God’s image..
Therefore, the Gospel of Mary is an invitation to recover the Sacred Feminine because it depicts females in a way that opposes the early Christian patriarchal structures
The Gospel of Mary shows how the authentic roots of the tradition have been distorted to false uses, and the authentic Christian image of women has been construed by the Roman social patriarchal order.
It recovers alternative traditions opposed to patriarchal thinking and develops a new synthesis of Christian tradition which is more life-giving to women.
