The Gospel of Mary of Magdala by Karen L. King
The Gospel of Mary of Magdala is an early Christian text attributed to Mary Magdalene, discovered in fragmentary form dating back to the fifth century, with earlier Greek fragments from the third century. Written in Coptic, this gospel presents a distinct perspective on Jesus' teachings and Mary's role as a prominent figure in early Christianity, contrasting sharply with canonical scriptures. The text includes a post-Resurrection scene where Jesus imparts unique knowledge to Mary and instructs her to spread the message of salvation, which emphasizes inner transformation rather than traditional concepts of sin and hell.
This gospel challenges the notion of gender within the spiritual community, as Mary is depicted as a key figure who possesses the authority to interpret Jesus' teachings, despite facing skepticism from male apostles. The Gospel of Mary reflects Gnostic themes, suggesting a division within early Christianity influenced by both Jewish and Greco-Roman thought. Karen L. King's comprehensive analysis highlights the importance of this text in understanding the diverse beliefs and debates surrounding the role of women in the Church and the nature of authority in early Christian communities. Overall, The Gospel of Mary of Magdala offers a unique window into the complexities of faith and gender in the formative years of Christianity.
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The Gospel of Mary of Magdala by Karen L. King
First published: Santa Rosa, Calif.: Polebridge Press, 2003
Genre(s): Nonfiction
Subgenre(s): Church history; critical analysis
Core issue(s): Gnosticism; scriptures; truth; women
Overview
A fragmentary copy of the Gospel of Mary dating from the fifth century was discovered in the late 1800’s. It was written in Coptic, a late-stage Egyptian language still used in liturgical services by Egyptian Christians. Two additional Greek fragments of the Gospel of Mary, from the early third century, were discovered in the twentieth century. However, at least half of the original gospel is considered to be still lost. The eight pages of papyrus manuscript that are extant provide a radically different view of Jesus’ teachings and of the role of Mary of Magdala than is presented in the scriptures that constitute the Christian Bible.
In The Gospel of Mary of Magdala, Karen L. King, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Harvard Divinity School, provides a full translation of all the fragments, as well as a history of how the various scrolls were found and eventually published. She then compares the Gospel of Mary to other early Christian writings, including the four New Testament Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and noncanonical gospels, such as the First Apocalypse of James and the Dialogue of the Savior.
The Gospel of Mary contains a post-Resurrection scene in which the risen Jesus imparts special knowledge and then sends the disciples, including Mary, into the world to preach the good news. Knowledge obtained through a vision of the risen Lord was considered to be of the greatest value within the early Church. In the Gospel of Mary, Jesus teaches that the human body ceases to exist at death and that only the soul goes on to experience eternal life. He also describes a God without gender: God is simply called “the Good.” There is no sin and no hell, only inner transformation. Jesus then directs his followers to spread the good news that the path to salvation exists within us.
After Jesus’ departure, the other apostles are frightened and unsure of what to do. At this point the apostle Mary of Magdala comes to the forefront. She encourages the other apostles to be resolute and have faith. Peter then asks her to reveal any special teaching that Jesus may have shared only with her. She then relates the content of a vision she had with the risen Lord. Much of the text of that vision is missing. The conclusion of the vision has a soul encountering various powers as it leaves the body and moves into eternal life. Peter and Andrew discount Mary’s teaching. Even though Peter was the person who asked Mary to share her knowledge, he argues that Jesus would not have shared these secrets with a woman instead of with one of the male apostles. Only Levi comes to Mary’s defense. The apostles then go out to preach Jesus’ teachings. Nothing suggests whether they went out to preach what Mary had told them or not.
Unlike the canonical Gospels, which came out of the Jewish tradition, the Gospel of Mary comes out of the Greek mind-set. Early Christianity was shaped not only by the Jewish community but also by the larger Greco-Roman world, as more and more Gentiles converted to this new faith. King maintains that one of the great contributions of the Gospel of Mary to understanding early Christianity is as an illustration of how pluralistic the forms of the faith were. Christians tried to make sense of the new faith both by talking with other Christians and by looking back at their own philosophical traditions. The Gospel of Mary contains ideas that would have been very familiar to those accustomed to the teachings of Plato and the Stoics. Despite its Platonic roots, the Gospel of Mary does insist that salvation can only come through the teachings of Jesus.
Another issue raised by the Gospel of Mary is the role of women in the Church. One of the criteria for being qualified to preach the good news was to have had an experience of the risen Lord. Mary clearly had that experience, but she goes one step further. Unlike her fellow apostles, her faith never waivers. She has fully internalized the teachings of Jesus. She does not suffer from fear when Jesus departs but rather offers encouragement to the others. Also, because salvation is so connected to the soul (without any connection to the physical body), gender is not an issue. Despite this, the Gospel of Mary shows dissent among the apostles regarding whether Mary’s teaching has validity because of her sex. King suggests it is quite possible that the dissent among the apostles in the Gospel of Mary illustrates a real debate among different groups during second century Christianity about who was authorized to preach the good news.
King also explores in her book the person of Mary of Magdala. Using the Gospels of Mary, John, and Luke, she discusses Mary’s role in the early Church. She is consistently portrayed as being among the first to experience the risen Lord and was largely regarded in a positive light by the early Church fathers. The fact that this Gospel was attached to her name, just as other Gospels were given the names of other apostles, indicates that she was considered to have apostolic authority. It was not until the fourth century that her reputation began to be sullied, and she became connected with every sinful unnamed woman in the four Gospels. The inaccurate image of her as a repentant prostitute lasted for centuries.
Christian Themes
The Gospel of Mary of Magdala is a work of Gnostic Christianity. Very simplistically, Gnostics believed that the soul was good and anything material, that is, having to do with this world, was flawed. King makes the important point that there were not people who called themselves “Gnostics.” Rather, the term was coined in hindsight as a definition of a philosophy that was declared a heresy by the Catholic Church. King states that Gnosticism was merely Gentile Christianity as opposed to Christianity evolving from Jewish tradition. As a result, it was deemed less important in establishing the early Church.
Regardless, Gnostic ideas are evident in the Gospel of Mary: gender, a quality that exists only in this world, is minimized, and the teaching of Jesus involves only the soul. King makes the argument that the Gospel of Mary has much to teach about the various strains of thought in early Christianity. She maintains that in an era of primarily oral tradition, early Christianity was not a homogenous religion. The Council of Nicaea in the fourth century defined many doctrinal issues for the Church, but up to that point, these topics were still being debated.
King also delves into the role of Mary Magdalene in the early Church, as well as the roles of women in general in preaching the good news. The notion of a woman being an apostle and having a Gospel attributed to her is a rarity. However, even the early Church Fathers referred to Mary Magdalene as “Apostle to the Apostles.” This image of Mary was lost in the Western tradition, although it continued in Eastern Christianity. Yet even in her Gospel, Mary’s authority to witness is called into question because of her gender and the strangeness of the ideas that she conveys. While the text clearly seeks to illustrate that the requirements for evangelization should be based on the quality and faithfulness of the spirit, it is apparent that the writer of this Gospel (King suggests it may have been a woman) was very aware that gender was an issue in the early Church.
As the Church continues to struggle with the role of women, King’s discussion in The Gospel of Maryof Magdala brings valuable insight into how the early Church community faced some of the same concerns.
Sources for Further Study
Haskins, Susan. Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor. New York: Riverhead, 1995. A very thorough treatment of Mary Magdalene, exploring how she has been portrayed in art, literature, and history.
Meyer, Marvin, and Esther de Boer. The Gospels of Mary: The Secret Tradition of Mary of Magdalene, the Companion of Jesus. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004. An investigation into all the references to Mary Magdalene in early Christian writings, both canonical and Gnostic, in an effort to discover her true role in the early Church.
Publishers Weekly. Review of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala. 250, no. 41 (October 13, 2003): 76. A brief but insightful review that suggests the impact of The Da Vinci Code created interest in both Gnosticism and Mary.
Welborn, Amy. De-coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legend, and Lies. Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor, 2006. A historical analysis of Mary Magdalene that provides an opposing viewpoint, arguing that she has always been viewed as a role model.