Question:
Have you read the Gospel of Mary Magdalene? I'm intrigued and but also feel sad that there were no female voices recorded in the biblical gospels. I would love to read your perspective.
Response:
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is intriguing, particularly because the woman whose name it bears is so utterly fascinating. And rightfully so! More on her shortly. As it concerns the Gospel itself, you're referring to fragments of a mid-to-late second-century document, possibly composed by Gnostics who (rightly), seemed to hold a high view of Mary but (wrongly, in my view), had a low view of embodied humanity (which should be of great concern to feminists).
What we have of the book is well worth reading if for no other reason than to learn how that particular movement framed Jesus, Mary, Peter and others in fascinating conversation. (Not to mention a psychological conversation between the Craver and the Soul).
It’s a bit of a stretch to formally call this work (or other Apocryphal Gospels, such as Thomas) a “gospel” in that it is not a proclamation of Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection. It’s focused only on conversations that articulate the Gnostics’ key themes and convictions in the form of narrative. How much of the book represents an authentic oral Jesus tradition is hard to say, except where it obviously contradicts the apostles’ radical vision of the Incarnation. Or how it treats the human condition as something to escape through insider, esoteric knowledge. By contrast, Jesus dignified the human experience in his own enfleshment and was fully human in a way that includes the experience of women.
As for the title, ‘the Gospel of Mary,’ the document doesn’t purport to be written by Mary, but it does center her voice, which is encouraging... but this is really no different to the way women’s voices are centered in the four gospels. So it’s not quite accurate to say that no female voices are recorded in the gospels. I have a few perspectives on that:
The Female Voices in the Gospels
First, in the modern world, we often over-exalt writers, as if published authorship makes someone an expert. But in the ancient world, the voice of the great teachers was recorded by their scribes or secretaries. The primary voice is speaking, not writing. So for example, Socrates was perhaps the greatest of Greek philosophers, but he never writes anything. His disciple, Plato, records his words (and gets a lot of the credit for doing so). So too, in the Gospels, we have no record of Jesus writing, except in the dust in John 8. But of course the Gospels are a record of Jesus’ voice. In no way is the one speaking degraded for not writing and publishing his or her own content. The authors were disciples who sat at their teacher’s feet and kept notes, or were researchers who sought eyewitness and passed on the voice of their teachers second hand.
Further, the men who composed the four gospels did hold the voice of women in very high regard and were sure to include them in a way that is so rare historically that one might consider it (wait for it) “inspired.”
For example, in John 4, we hear the testimony of the woman at the well, revered so highly that she was titled “St. Photini, equal to the apostles.” Someone wrote down the story but they had heard it from her voice.
Then we have Mary and Martha of Bethany, whose voices we hear from their experience of Jesus in their home but also at Lazarus’ resurrection.
And then we have the story of the woman framed for adultery... without a word, we hear her voice in her story, something she would proclaim in ways that enter the Gospel of John. Women in the gospel like her don’t always say something, but their actions are given voice by Jesus himself as they wash his feet or anoint him with perfume or bring myrrh to his tomb.
Another striking example is how Mary the Mother of Jesus is the primary voice in the whole birth narrative sections of Matthew and Luke. There is a ton of confidential information there that we could call ‘the Gospel According to the Virgin Mary’ because she was the only one who could have voiced what happened. Her voice is especially strong in the first three chapters of Luke. So much so that her hymn, ‘the Magnificat’ is sung every Sunday in the Eastern Churches.
The Magdalene Gospel
Most moving to me is Mary Magdalene. There’s an intimate rabbi-disciple relationship evident in the gospels that comes out particularly strong at the end of the story, where John records the story of Jesus’ very first resurrection appearance. Jesus chooses to reveal himself to a woman, call her by name, and commission her to be ‘the apostle to the apostles.’ Only Mary could have told this story (with her voice). John not only thought it essential to report, but also describes how slow the men were to believe and highlights how dull and unbelieving they were. He puts their failure in stark contrast to Mary’s faith.
Sometimes, I think that the fascination with the later Gnostic gospels, including this one, is due in part because the four Gospels get dusty for us and we’re looking for something fresh and novel to enliven our faith. (I have doubts about this solution).
Other times, we recognize how patriarchal theologians have weaponized the Bible against women, as if the gospels somehow confirmed their misogyny. (They simply don’t). So we hope that maybe the Gnostic gospels will be good resources for a more feminist Christianity (They aren’t). For example, from Thomas:
(1) Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.”
(2) Jesus said: “Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you.”
(3) (But I say to you): “Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
My take is not to avoid the Gnostic gospels. Rather, I encourage the following for those with the time and especially concern for female voices:
1. Read the four gospels again, watching where Jesus and women are interacting. Read the conversations and witness the actions as the testimony of amazing women, faithfully recounted by men who saw how Jesus treated them and how devoted these women were to Jesus. Name every occurrence as “the Gospel According to Women."
2. Read the Apocryphal Gospels
Note the range in content among the other gospels, and then notice the contrast between them and the Four, especially where the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are absent, examples of where the voice of the Gnostic Jesus seems foreign to the core teachings of the Jesus you know, and where esoteric knowledge is puffed up above the public proclamation of good news for everyone.
Then watch for the women in the Gnostic gospels. Rejoice where they are lifted up as they were in the gospels. Enjoy passages where Jesus puts men (such as Peter) in their place if they belittle or marginalize women (such as Mary). Think critically about that. Is this a timely rebuke against misogyny repurposed in a new context? Or is there an agenda to smear Peter and apostolic authority? Why might that be? How do such stories function in the book? Make the most of them.
See if you can discern authentic oral traditions of Jesus from fantasies and fan fiction about him. What criteria would you use? Do you have an analytical rubric for authenticity or is something more intuitive at work. I think most people will get a feel for it if they use the Beatitudes as a hallmark of Jesus’ teaching and character. The consensus of scholars agrees they are a core Jesus tradition. You may find some wonderful passages that may have preserved Jesus’ extra-biblical teaching... and you’ll likely find some that sound like B-movie sci-fi… “Flash Gordon Jesus” or no Jesus at all. But don't be afraid to read. You’re likely to discover why the four gospels rose to the top and stayed there.
3. Finally, this article should have been written by a woman. (But a woman insisted that I should). There are many great female biblical scholars and theologians and inspirational writers available today. I think of Dr. Wilda C. Gafney’s Women’s Lectionary as a fresh translation and commentary on the Gospel texts. Don’t forget to include a deep dive into female BIPOC voices who speak from the margins. Just one example for now: please get Lisa Sharon Harper's book, A Very Good Gospel. I promise you’ll love it and it’s a great example of a Womanist voice who helps us hear what I could never convey.
blessings,
bj