Re: ICR's ACTS AND FACTS--Mary Magdalene

I did not keep the "Newsweek" issue with the story about Mary Magdalene, but
I recall that it was a report on the rehabilitation of Mary that has been
going on in scholarly circles in recent years. There is much to be done to
erase the identification of Mary with the prostitute who washed Jesus' feet
with her tears; this unwarrented and false attribution is attributed to Pope
Gregory the Great in a sermon dated 591. I've not read "The Da Vinci Code"
either, but Dan Brown is said to have relied on some dubious scholarship
about the role of Mary Magdalene in early Christian thought and practice,
one must keep in mind that his is a work of fiction. However, a lot of
excellent scholarship on the Gnostic gospels discovered at Nag Hammadi in
Egypt 60 years ago have shed much light on Christian Gnosticism. In that
strain of early Christianity, Mary Magdalene was held in high esteem, and is
described as one of Jesus' favorite apostles, one to whom he imparted wisdom
not given to the male disciples. The fragmentary _Gospel of Mary of
Magdala_, the only existing early Christian gospel written in the name of a
woman, is described by its editor, Harvard scholar Karen King, as "the most
straightforward and convincing argument in any early Christian writing for
the legitimacy of women's leadership." In the surviving fragment, Mary is
comforting the male disciples after the Savior's departure; Peter asks her
to teach them what the Savior had taught her, since "we know the Savior
loved you above all other women." However, the disciples are displeased
with what Mary teaches them and argue with her. There the text breaks off.

In the _Gospel of Phillip_, described by its editor as a gnostic sacramental
catechesis, Mary Magdalene is described as Jesus' "companion," which some
have interpreted as "consort," and also in these words: "And the companion
of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her more than all the disciples,
and used to kiss her often on her mouth. 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 "kissing on the mouth" may be a metaphor for imparting wisdom (seeing
the light?), but many have interpreted it to mean that Mary and Jesus were
lovers, or intimate, or married.

Medieval French legends extend the Mary of Magdala story. According to
various versions, she brought the Holy Grail to France, accompanied by
Joseph of Arimathea and Lazarus "her brother." In another, she and Jesus
married, and their son who came to France with Mary became the founder of
the line that led to the Merovingian kings of France. Some of those
medieval legends have been picked up and quite imaginatively expanded by
modern devotees of Mary. You may not have heard of the Gnostic Catholic
Church of Mary Magdalene: I can't find a location for worship on its web
site and it may only be a web church.

"Each to his own," as they say. I find a lot of the modern Mary stuff
wierd, but the great interest in Mary Magdalene that has sprung up in recent
years reflects, I firmly believe, the desire of many women in the Church and
on the fringes to have the leadership role of women in early Christianity
validated; Dan Brown's novel has resonated with so many women for that
reason. We can see in the NT that the early egalitarian tendencies of both
Jesus and Paul are later muted and supressed. It is good to be reminded
that Mary of Magdala was one of Jesus' most loyal and faithful followers,
and that John makes her the person to whom the resurrected Jesus first
appears: it is for this reason that in the Eastern Churches Mary is known as
the Apostle to the Apostles.

Bob Schneider

----- Original Message -----
From: "gordon brown" <gbrown@euclid.colorado.edu>
To: "John W Burgeson" <jwburgeson@juno.com>
Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: ICR's ACTS AND FACTS

>
> On Thu, 4 Mar 2004, John W Burgeson wrote:
>
> > 7. In Newsweek, 12-8-2003, Mary of Magda was said to be "actually Jesus'
> > intimate female partner." At least that's what ICR says that Newsweek
> > says. They call that a "blatant contradiction to God's Word." I find no
> > mention of it, one way or the other, in scripture. In what way is it a
> > contradiction? And did Newsweek "say" it, or simply report that someone
> > said it? I suspect the latter.
>
> Maybe they were referring to the DaVinci Code. There is nothing new about
> this. Jesus's enemies like to invent stories that discredit him.
>
> Gordon Brown
> Department of Mathematics
> University of Colorado
> Boulder, CO 80309-0395
>
>
Received on Thu Mar 4 19:26:49 2004