Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: PS

I wouldn't call it doctrine. It's certainly nowhere near official.
Mary Anne — (archived)

There are numerous Marys in the Gospels. One, of course, is Jesus's mother. One is Martha and Lazarus's sister. And one is Magdalene, who is more or less identified as a fancy woman -how else did she get that ointment?- and by extension is identified with the "whores and publicans" group that Jesus hung out with, to make a point to the holier-than-thou Jewish religious leaders of the time.

She is sometimes, in the popular imagination, connected with the woman whom Jesus saved from being stoned for adultery, although, I believe, there is no direct scriptural support for such an interpretation. It does clean up the cast list a little, though. ;)

Now, if one pays attention to the fragmentary Gospel of Mary, and some of the other Gospels that didn't make the cut at Nicea, one gets the distinct impression that Jesus was not nearly as asexual as he is depicted in many Christian traditions. One might draw the conclusion that those who opposed such an interpretation would have fostered the folklore that Magdalene was a whore, because Jesus liked her best, maybe even in a whole other way than the other apostles. Obviously, she was a "temptress" according to this school, but since it was "her profession" she just didn't know how to relate to him in any other way.

Regards--
Mary Anne

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