Gospel of Mary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Gospel of Mary was found in the Akhmim Codex, a gnostic text of the New Testament apocrypha acquired by Dr. Carl Rheinhardt in Cairo in 1896.

Contents 1 History of the Gospel 2 Contents of the Gospel 3 Implications of the Gospel 4 Notes 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] History of the Gospel

The first full translation of the gospel was not published until 1955, ten years after the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library, which notably did not contain the Gospel of Mary despite its duplication of two other Akhmim texts. Though the gospel is at least 19 pages in length, pages 1-6 and 11-14 are missing. It has been suggested in popular literature that this is a Gospel of Mary Magdalene although the central character is always named as simply "Mary" in the text.

In addition to the Akhmim Codex, which is written in a Coptic dialect and has been dated to the fourth or fifth century AD, a shorter Greek-language manuscript exists on papyrus which contains only the latter portion of the text. The papyrus dates to the third century.

All of these manuscripts were first discovered and published between 1938 and 1983, but there are Patristic references to the Gospel of Mary as early as the third century.

[edit] Contents of the Gospel

In the fragmentary text, the disciples ask questions of Jesus Christ.

Then they grieve, saying, "How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If even he was not spared, how shall we be spared?" And Mary bids them take heart: "Let us rather praise his greatness, for he prepared us and made us into men." She then delivers a vision of the Savior that she has had and reports her discourse with him, which shows Gnostic influences.

Her vision does not meet with universal approval:

"But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, 'Say what you think concerning what she said. For I do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are of other ideas.'"

"Peter also opposed her in regard to these matters and asked them about the Savior. 'Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?'"

However Levi defends Mary and quells Peter's attack on her. In the text, Peter appears to be offended by the discovery that Jesus selected Mary above the other disciples to interpret his teachings. Peter sees Mary as a rival and a contender for the leadership of the group.

[edit] Implications of the Gospel

Karen L. King, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard University Divinity School, concludes that this Gospel provides "...an intriguing glimpse into a kind of Christianity lost for almost fifteen hundred years."^[1] Professor King goes on to say that the Gospel

"...presents a radical interpretation of Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge; it rejects his suffering and death as the path to eternal life; it exposes the erroneous view that Mary of Magdala was a prostitute for what it is—a piece of theological fiction; it presents the most straightforward and convincing argument in any early Christian writing for the legitimacy of women's leadership; it offers a sharp critique of illegitimate power and a utopian vision of spiritual perfection; it challenges our rather romantic views about the harmony and unanimity of the first Christians; and it asks us to rethink the basis for church authority."^[2]

As Professor King also observed, the tensions in second-century Christianity are reflected in "the confrontation of Mary with Peter, [which is] a scenario also found in The Gospel of Thomas^[3], Pistis Sophia^[4], and The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians. Peter and Andrew represent orthodox positions which deny the validity of esoteric revelation and reject the authority of women to teach."^{[citation needed]}

The text is primarily concerned with

• mortality and the origin of mortality as a result of the demiurge
• Jesus's ascension
• The ascent of the soul, according to gnosticism

The larger part of these concerns is expressed as a dialogue between the disciples and Mary, who is providing the answers. Within the text, the authority of the church after the departure of Jesus has been placed in Mary, which likely indicates that the text originated within a sect which either recognized Mary as its founder or otherwise valued Mary above other apostles. This favour may have been, in part, due to her ability as a female to represent the important figure of Sophia, the female syzygy of Christ, within gnostic theology.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ King, Karen L. The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle, p. 3. Polebridge Press, 2003
2. ^ King, Karen L. The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle, p. 3-4. Polebridge Press, 2003
3. ^ GThomas log. 114
4. ^ Pistis sophia 1:36

[edit] See also

• New Testament apocrypha

[edit] External links

• Early Christian Writings: Gospel of Mary
• Gospel of Mary Magdalene (in Persian)
• Gospel of Mary: (English), syncretic
• Gospel of Mary of Magdala

text, incorporating Coptic and earlier Greek versions; further web links

• Gospel of Mary
• Gospel of Mary (in Russian)
• Secrets of Mary Magdalene Website
• Gnostic Judas The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
• Eternal Mary (Version By Julien.C)
• Gospel of Mary Magdalene from the Official Site for The Lost Tomb of Jesus