An Inconvenient Woman: Mary Magdalene
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Taken off from newsweek international edition:
She witnessed the resurrection, then vanished, leaving popes and painters and now 'The Da Vinci Code' to tell her story. In search of the real Mary Magdalene.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12893958/site/newsweek/page/1/Resurrection sequence of the Gospel of John has vexed scholars. In John's version, Mary realizes the figure addressing her is Jesus and she reaches for him, but he holds her off, saying, "Do not touch me." Later that same day, however, Jesus appears to his male disciples and they recognize him instantly. He shows the men his hands, his sides, even breathes on them. Eight days later he appears to the Apostle Thomas, a doubter, and specifically asks to be touched so that Thomas will believe. "Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands," he says.
Was there discrimination?
The pope made his new Mary a reformed whore because he knew that the faithful needed a story of penance that was at once alluring and inspiring. The early Middle Ages were a time of tremendous social tumult—war and disease roiled nations and sent destitute women into the streets. Gregory's church needed a character from Jesus' circle who provided an answer to this misery, who proved that the path of Christ was an escape from the pressures of the sinful world. The mysterious Magdalene of the Resurrection story was peripheral enough to be reinvented.
Finally, the church fathers were able to put the inconvenient woman to good use.Sexism? Did they do it for a good cause? Controversy.In the Gnostic tradition, kisses on the lips are not an erotic act but a chaste gesture meant to symbolize the passage of knowledge and spiritual truth. Elsewhere in the Gospel of Philip, Jesus also kisses his male disciples on the mouth. (If the makers of "The Da Vinci Code" wanted to interpret this act as erotic, they would no doubt be facing even more vehement protests from conventional Christians.) The passage is certainly significant, for it could imply that Jesus gave Mary special authority in his church. But "The Da Vinci Code" fails to make this point by mistaking the nature of Jesus' kiss. Brown's mistake is understandable. Sex sells in our time, as it did in Gregory's, and probably Jesus', too. Mary remains a prisoner, a mistaken creature of sex. History may yet set her free.
Commercial and social forces!There are still undiscovered gospels sitting in unknown deserts or on unknown library shelves. Scholars say it is only a matter of time before some of them surface and upend our notions of Mary and Jesus once again.
Hmmm, that would take a long long long time...Until then, she will remain a mystery.
Critical reading needed... Is history really the way that historians had recorded? Or was there any other forces acting on their judgement on the situation under circumstances? Do we believe what we read? It's up to you whether you believe in what you read. Mary Magdalene may have been accused of being a whore. Actually, she most probably had been. In times where women was discriminated, there is no telling of what people(men) had done to convict women of witchcraft and atrocities that they had not committed. In other words, everyone has their views on religion. What they believe in is what that had fantasized them. Some have no choice in their religion while others have the freedom of religion. If you are comfortable with your beliefs, stay with it. It's hard to determine right or wrong because religions are based on history (human recordings) and passed down by, perhaps, our ancestors. We cannot be sure who is the true God or gods unless we see them, ourselves, that would be quite hard, I guess. If there is any evidence to throw off the beliefs in Christianity, I guess chaos would arise. Humans are congregative creatures and christianity is a tempting choice to make, despite its many denominations. This is how I feel and I have no intention of debunking any religions. It is because of culture and the many religions that have made the world even more colourful, however, if there are people who are blinded by faith to carry out heinous acts, I would not forgive them.
