Mary Magdalene in alternative Christian texts

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

9 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/22/2009

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Literature

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Summary :

Introduction
Nature of the texts
Patterns in the texts
1. Favored disciple
2. Peter and Mary Magdalene
3. A group of women
Alternative texts
1. The Gospel of Thomas
2. The Gospel of Mary
3. The Gospel of Philip
4. The Pistas Sophia
5. The Sophia of Jesus Christ
6. The dialogue of the Savior
7. The [first] apocalypse of James
8. The Epistuala Apostolorum
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

The most common portrayal of mary magdalene has been as a prostitute, though even the Roman Catholic Church, which invented that story, has conceded that it is not true. The second most common portrayal of her has been as the woman who was present at the crucifixion and went to the tomb. alternative texts that were hidden from the Church and rediscovered reveal that a significant number of early Christians believed mary magdalene was much more than that. They believed she was a prominent disciple who was authorized by Jesus to teach after the crucifixion. In these stories Peter objected to her authority, but the other disciples sided with mary.

This paper reviews these portrayals of mary magdalene. Nature of the texts There are quite a few early christian texts that were not included in the New Testament, and several of them mention mary magdalene. Some people call these texts, or some of these texts, "the Gnostic gospels," but this is not an accurate term. All too often, calling these texts "Gnostic" is a way to dismiss them as heresy or unorthodox forms of Christianity, yet this is not an accurate picture of early Christianity. In fact, no one really knows what Gnosticism is. Scholars do not have a definition of Gnosticism they can agree on. There are three general arguments made about "Gnosticism." One is that Gnostics recognized the authority of gnosis or an individual experience of knowing. The second is that the Gnostics were radical dualists who thought the material world was evil and the spiritual world was good. The third is that Gnostics had an elaborate alternative cosmology. Sometimes scholars talk about Gnosticism in terms of only one of these characteristics, and only rarely in terms of all three.