Who exactly is Mary Magdalene?

[Answerer]

Hi guys, over the years, I had seen and heard several stories and arguments involving the true identity of Mary Magdalene. Other than the 'standard' labelling of her as a whore, there are three other possibilities of her would-be status:

1) She was the wife and female disciple of Jesus but was hated and feared by the church.

2) She never existed and was a mythical figure as Jesus was.

3) She existed but she is no wife or female disciple of Jesus. (Not a whore either)

So, can any of you please tell me which of the three above cases are the closest to the truth? (There might be a fourth that I don't know)

[Vinnie]

She was a woman follower of Jesus prominent in the early given the nature of her attestation in John, Mark and Luke. A case can be made that all three attempt to undermine her authiry. If we take opposition as an index to authority Mary Magdalene is up there with the big dogs. Plus Paul and GThomas mention and unknown Mary.

Other than this we know next to nothing about Mary. Things like her marrying Jesus and so forth is sensationalism, not critical scholarship. Some later texts do say Jesus kissed her on the lips often :D

[Amos]

Originally posted by Answerer
Hi guys, over the years, I had seen and heard several stories and arguments involving the true identity of Mary Magdalene. Other than the 'standard' labelling of her as a whore, there are three other possibilities of her would-be status:

1) She was the wife and female disciple of Jesus but was hated and feared by the church.

2) She never existed and was a mythical figure as Jesus was.

3) She existed but she is no wife or female disciple of Jesus. (Not a whore either)

So, can any of you please tell me which of the three above cases are the closest to the truth? (There might be a fourth that I don't know)

She was as mythical as Jesus was, and therefore an effective force in the mind of Joseph the Jew. Jesus became the new identity when Christ was reborn into the mind of Joseph, so really Magdalene was beside Joseph much in the same way Lady Macbeth was beside MacBeth.

She was a disciple of Jesus only because Jesus was the reborn Joseph and therefore Mary M was the maid Joseph had 'married' in the same mythical sense while he was a carpenter and 'made all those things' that carpenters make - which makes Joseph a sinner since all is made in sin. This would make her the wife of Joseph as an Adam who took Eve to be his wife while the Adam nature called Joseph was banned from Eden where he 'made all those things.' Magdalene was Eve, therefore, who was the serpent in the mind of Joseph to motivate Joseph by striking at his heel. Magdalene, in her turn, was motivated by Mary theotokos who stikes at the mind of Magdalene.

The idea that she was a whore is also a metaphor to describe her valor and here she would be Vareria in the mind of Coriolanus who succeeded in life because of the extreme determination of Magdalene to succeed and this, in its turn, was prompted by Mary who is Volumnia in Coriolanus (called Volumnia, which echoes the volume of strikes to motivate Valeria =vivid Eve in the mind of Joseph the enterprising Jew).

Only Joseph existed in real life and the two Mary's and Jesus were personifications used to describe the metaphysics of the renewal of mind. JBap was also a personification of the Christ identity while subordianted to the free will of Jesus the Jew. JBap was therefore "he who went before" to stir the emotion and withdrew afterwards to let 'Jesus the Jew' work out his own salvation.

It is helpful to see the entire Gospels taking place in the mind of one man here called Joseph the Jew who went from rebirth through purgatory and into heaven and the four Gospels are just different perspectives of this event.

[Marduk]

If she existed, according to the Gospels she was not a prostitute or the woman Jesus saved from being stoned for adultery like many claim, she was the woman who was posed by demons, after Jesus evicted the demons she became a big fan and hung around with da boyz.

[trip]

Originally posted by Amos
Only Joseph existed in real life and the two Mary's and Jesus were personifications used to describe the metaphysics of the renewal of mind.

It is helpful to see the entire Gospels taking place in the mind of one man here called Joseph the Jew who went from rebirth through purgatory and into heaven and the four Gospels are just different perspectives of this event.

What are you talking about? Who is Joseph, and what evidence do we have that the new testament is nothing but some psychotic episode he went through?

[Vinnie]

Originally posted by Marduk
If she existed, according to the Gospels she was not a prostitute or the woman Jesus saved from being stoned for adultery like many claim, she was the woman who was posed by demons, after Jesus evicted the demons she became a big fan and hung around with da boyz.

Luke may be undermining Mary's authority by saying she was posessed by 7 demons (seven being a special number). Later skeptics picked up on one of "the chief witnesses to the empty tomb" being a former "demoniac"w with such a wicked form of demonic possession.

Those like Crossan think Luke has a little misognist smoothing over and see the Mary Magdalene material as dennigrating and undermining of her authority just as Mark and John undermine it in their own wasy.

And the preicope de adultera was added to the text of John in the fifth century IIRC. Saying this was MAry_M is reaching big time.

Vinnie

[Amos]

Originally posted by trip
What are you talking about? Who is Joseph, and what evidence do we have that the new testament is nothing but some psychotic episode he went through?

Joseph was a Jew and the Gospels are a tribute to the function of Judaism as a means to the end, which is heaven on earth or paradise regained.

The psychotic episode is also called metamorphosis (if you like that better). The Gospels are a detailed account of this and Catholicism is crammed with evidence for this.

[Answerer]

Originally posted by Vinnie
She was a woman follower of Jesus prominent in the early given the nature of her attestation in John, Mark and Luke. A case can be made that all three attempt to undermine her authiry. If we take opposition as an index to authority Mary Magdalene is up there with the big dogs. Plus Paul and GThomas mention and unknown Mary.Other than this we know next to nothing about Mary. Things like her marrying Jesus and so forth is sensationalism, not critical scholarship.

I could understand the sex prejudice that had occured in the past. But if Mary was a nobody, why is there so much emphasis on her?

Anyway, I found a website(that supported Mary's wife image) no long ago. Could you please tell me whats wrong with it? Thanks.

Here (http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/00_1/m-forum.htm)


Some later texts do say Jesus kissed her on the lips often :D

Its a shame that Jesus the saviour could not resist her. :D

Anyway, are you sure that there is no sex involved? :D

[Johann_Kaspar]

She was the mother of Yeshua.

Mt 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

[quartodeciman]

There is a gospel attributed to her (rejected from the New Testament, of course).

The Gospel according to Mary Magdalene -->
http://www.gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm

Quart

[Amos]

He said to his mother:

‘Woman, behold your son.’

Then he said to the disciple

‘behold your mother


The above exchange took place with John, the beloved apostle and bosom buddy of Jesus the Jew who had been set free under the name of 'son of man' (Barabbas) was at the foot of the cross together with Mary theotokos, Elizabeth and Magdalene.

Of course they are gender specific. JBab was conceived by Elizabeth in the netherworld of the subconscious mind to provide the inner detemination to succeed; Mary theotokos was the Virgin brought into the conscious mind where she cradled the incipient awakening of Jesus the Christ, and Magdalene was there to bewail the death of the image she had loved . . . which was the ego now crucified. To be sure, without the release of Mary into the conscious mind at the "Wedding in Cana" the "temptation in the desert" -- which is its counterpart -- would have been unbearable and crucifixion would have never followed this event.

[Vinnie]

Originally posted by Answerer
I could understand the sex prejudice that had occured in the past. But if Mary was a nobody, why is there so much emphasis on her?

Anyway, I found a website(that supported Mary's wife image) no long ago. Could you please tell me whats wrong with it? Thanks.

Here (http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/00_1/m-forum.htm)



Its a shame that Jesus the saviour could not resist her. :D

Anyway, are you sure that there is no sex involved? :D

I never said Mary was a nobody. I stated the exact opposite.

A very fast glance of that site told me it puts Mary in a contending position for the beloved disciple and maybe even authorship of GJohn.

Even if all that is granted none of it sugegsts Mary-M was Jesus' wife. That is still sensationalism. All sorts of Rmantic things are imagined about Mary, she was a former prostitute, she was the woman caught in adultury appearing in fth century manuscrupts of John, she fell in love with Jesus, she was beautiful, she was Jesus wife, she fled to France carrying Jesus' child etc.

E.P. Sanders said it best: For all we know, on the basis of our sources, she was eighty-six, childless, and keen to mother unkempt young men." (HFJ p. 75)

This is lavishing stark, episodic material with romantic imagination and flights of fancy. There is no scholarship here.

Now Mary-M and the bloved disciple is not in the category. but me personally, I lean towards JD_Crossan and think the Rez experiences are about politics and authority. The goal is to prioritize the Beloved Disciple over the others (Thomas, Peter, and Mary-M) IMO. I find Mary-M being the BD problematic for a few reasons thought a detailed examination of that site is out of my time limits right now.

Vinnie

[Revelation_Man]

Originally posted by Marduk
If she existed, according to the Gospels she was not a prostitute or the woman Jesus saved from being stoned for adultery like many claim, she was the woman who was posed by demons, after Jesus evicted the demons she became a big fan and hung around with da boyz.

Yep. She was Jesus' #1 groupie.

But she had a big impact all her own. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have made Peter so nervous.

[Revelation_Man]

Originally posted by Vinnie
This is lavishing stark, episodic material with romantic imagination and flights of fancy. There is no scholarship here.


How is that unlike the rest of the Bible?

And your fears of Mary being the BD sound very similar to the ones evoked by Peter and the other desciples.

[Vinnie]

Originally posted by Revelation_Man
How is that unlike the rest of the Bible?

This is irrelevant so I will not adress it here.


And your fears of Mary being the BD sound very similar to the ones evoked by Peter and the other desciples.

LOLOLOL My fears???? :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

I already stated Mary was very prominent in the early church, as prominent as other big guns like Peter and co.

Thinking the fourth Gospel prioritizes the BD ofver Mary_M is a fear? Not to mention the other problems.

Vinnie

[Kosh]

I don't know who she was, but according to the bronze statue in front of the Adventist hospital my wife works at, she had one helluva nice tushy!

[chapka]

There's a good discussion of where various people named "Mary" occur in the Gospels in the on-line 1906 Catholic Encyclopedia. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09761a.htm) Basically, there are a lot of mentions of someone named "Mary" in the Gospels, and whenever it's clear that they're not talking about Jesus' mother, people assume they're all references to the same Mary. This is the Roman Catholic tradition, anyway.