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The Gospel ofMary ofMagdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle Published in by Polebridge Press, P.O. Box , Santa Rosa, California Copyright by Karen L. King All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Polebridge Press, P. O. Box , Santa Rosa, California Cover image: "Mary Magdalene" courtesy of and Robert Lentz. Color reproductions available from Bridge Building Images, orionissystems.com Photographs of PRylands courtesy of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. Photograph of POxy compliments of the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. ISBN Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data King, Karen L. The Gospel of Mary of Magdala : Jesus and the first woman apostle / Karen L. King, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1. Gospel of MaryCriticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. BTGK56 'dc22

Xiable of Contents
TPv-e^ace .Abbreviations & S i g l a vii ix

Parti The Gospel of Nary i . introduction 2. Translation & T e x t 3Gospel; Revelation, Dialogue 3 13 29

Part II The Savior's Teaching in the Gospel of Nary

4. T k e Body & tke World 37

5. Sin, j u d g m e n t , & L a w 6. T k e S o n of ]\Aav\

49 59 63 69 83

7. Vision & M'md 8. 9. T k e R i s e of t k e S o u l Controversy over A^c^y'sTeacking

Part III The Gospel of Mary in Early Christianity T k e j f e s u s X m d i t i o n Paul 1 2 . T k e dasp&l of3okn 93

T k e A p o s t l e s 1 4 . T k e "History of Ck^istianity AJotes T e r m s &. Sources W o r k s Cited I7ndex of Citations

ace

Several foundations provided grant support to allow for work on this manuscript, and I would like to acknowledge my appreciation to them: the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation, the Women's Studies in Religion Program of the Harvard Divinity School, and the Graves Foundation. In addition, my thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a Travel t o Collections Award (), which allowed me to make my own transcription of the fragments in Berlin, Oxford, and Manchester. For their hospitality and help, I would like to thank Dr. William Brashear, Dr. Gunther Poetke, and Dr. Ingeborg Muller from the Agyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Berlin; Dr. Revel A. Coles, Papyrology Rooms, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; and Dr. Peter McNiven of the Rylands Museum, Manchester. The study of the Gospel of Mary which follows has benefited from many voices. Over the course of preparing this manuscript, I made presentations to numerous academic conferences, university courses, church groups from a wide range of Christian denominations, and feminist spirituality workshops. The critical and constructive responses of these groups has had a substantial impact on my own thinking about the meaning and significance of the Gospel of Mary. I would like to thank all those whose questions, comments, and objections led to beneficial rethinking and reworking of this manuscript. For the time and effort they gave in reading various portions of the manuscript and supplying vital critique and support, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Francois Bovon, Ann Brock, Constance Buchanan, Robert Funk, Anne McGuire, Elaine Pagels, Hans-Martin Schenke, and Elisabeth Schiissler Fiorenza. I offer yet again my gratitude to Tom Hall, whose generous labor saved me from numerous grammatical infelicities and taught me salutory lessons along the way. My warm thanks, too, to Daryl Schmidt and Hershey Julien for their careful corrections of the final manuscript, and to Char Matejovsky for her

viii

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professionalism and consistently good advice. My most profound thanks belong to Hal Taussig who read the manuscript in multiple versions, providing both critical response and encouragement when I needed them most. I would like to dedicate this book to him as an indication of my heart-felt gratitude for his friendship.

y\bb**evio+ioF\s & Sicflo

Abbreviations
ABD Acts AgHer ANF The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Ed. David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, Acts of the Apostles Irenaeus, Against Heresies The Ante-Nicene Fathers. 10 vols. Ed. A. Cleveland Coxe. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, reprint Apocryphon of James Apocryphon of John First Apocalypse of James Second Apocalypse of James Apocalypse of Paul Apocalypse of Peter Before the Common Era Berlin Codex (Berolinensis Gnosticus) Book of Thomas the Contender Common Era Colossians First Corinthians Second Corinthians Deuteronomy Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache) Dialogue of the Savior Ephesians Galatians Gospel of Mary Gospel of the Nazarenes Gospel of Peter Gospel of Philip

Apjas Apjohn lApocJas 2ApocJas ApocPaul ApocPet

BCE

BG BkThom
CE

Col 1 Cor 2 Cor Deut Did DSav Eph Gal GMary GNaz GPet GPhil

T K e C\ospe\

of }Aary

of . M a g d a l a

GSav GThom GTruth HistEccl Jas JECS

John
Luke Mark Matt NHC NHLE

Gospel of the Savior Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Truth History of the Church James Journal of Early Christian Studies Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Najj Hammadi Codex The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 3 rd ed. Ed. James M. Robinson and Richard Smith. San Francisco: Harper and Row, New Revised Standard Version Odyssey On the Origin of the World The Letter of Peter to Philip First Peter Second Peter Papyrus Oxyrhynchus Proverbs Papyrus Rylands Pistis Sophia Synoptic Sayings Source (Quelle) Revelation Romans Sophia ofJesus Christ Testimony of Truth First Timothy Second Timothy Wisdom of Solomon

NRSV Od OrigWorld PetPhil IPet 2 Pet POxy Prov PRyl PiSo Q Rev Rom SoJsChr TestTruth 1 Tim 2 Tim Wis

Sigla
[ ] Square brackets in the translation indicate that a lacuna exists in the manuscript where writing once existed; the enclosed text has been restored by scholars. ( ) Parentheses in the translation indicate material supplied by the translator for the sake of clarity. < > Pointed brackets indicate a correction of a scribal omission or error.

Parti
The Gospel of Mary

Chapter 1

CJV\ti*oduction

Early Christianity & the Gospel of Mary

Few people today are acquainted with the Gospel of Mary. Written early in the second century CE, it disappeared for over fifteen hundred years until a single, fragmentary copy in Coptic translation came to light in the late nineteenth century. Although details of the discovery itself are obscure, we do know that the fifth-century manuscript in which it was inscribed was purchased in Cairo by Carl Reinhardt and brought to Berlin in l Two additional fragments in Greek have come to light in the twentieth century. Yet still no complete copy of the Gospel of Mary is known. Fewer than eight pages of the ancient papyrus text survive, which means that about half of the Gospel of Mary is lost to us, perhaps forever. Yet these scant pages provide an intriguing glimpse into a kind of Christianity lost for almost fifteen hundred years. This astonishingly brief narrative 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 isa 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

4-

T\\e- C\ospe\ of ]\Aavy of }\Aagda\a

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. All written in the name of a woman. The story of the Gospel of Mary is a simple one. Since the first six pages are lost, the gospel opens in the middle of a scene portraying a discussion between the Savior and his disciples set after the resurrection. The Savior is answering their questions about the end of the material world and the nature of sin. He teaches them that at present all things, whether material or spiritual, are interwoven with each other. In the end, that will not be so. Each nature will return to its own root, its own original state and destiny. But meanwhile, the nature of sin is tied to the nature of life in this mixed world. People sin because they do not recognize their own spiritual nature and, instead, love the lower nature that deceives them and leads to disease and death. Salvation is achieved by discovering within oneself the true spiritual nature of humanity and overcoming the deceptive entrap ments of the bodily passions and the world. The Savior concludes this teaching with a warning against those who would delude the disciples into following some heroic leader or a set of rules and laws. Instead they are to seek the child of true Humanity within themselves and gain inward peace. After commissioning them to go forth and preach the gospel, the Savior departs. But the disciples do not go out joyfully to preach the gospel; instead controversy erupts. All the disciples except Mary have failed to comprehend the Savior's teaching. Rather than seek peace witliin, they are distraught, frightened that if they follow his commission to preach the gospel, they might share his agonizing fate. Mary steps in and comforts them and, at Peter's request, relates teaching unknown to them that she had received from the Savior in a vision. The Savior had explained to her the nature of prophecy and the rise of the soul to its final rest, describing how to win the battle against the wicked, illegitimate Powers that seek to keep the soul entrapped in the world and ignorant of its true spiritual nature. But as she finishes her account, two of the disciples quite unexpectedly challenge her. Andrew objects that her teaching is strange and he refuses to believe that it came from the Savior. Peter goes further, denying that Jesus would ever have given this kind of advanced teaching to a woman, or that Jesus could possibly have preferred her to them. Apparently when he asked her to speak, Peter had not expected such elevated teaching, and now he questions her character,

Introduction

implying that she has lied about having received special teaching in order to increase her stature among the disciples. Severely taken aback, Mary begins to cry at Peter's accusation. Levi comes quickly to her defense, pointing out to Peter that he is a notorious hothead and now he is treating Mary as though she were the enemy. We should be ashamed of ourselves, he admonishes them all; instead of arguing among ourselves, we should go out and preach the gospel as the Savior commanded us. The story ends here, but the controversy is far from resolved. Andrew and Peter at least, and likely the other fearful disciples as well, have not understood the Savior's teaching and are offended by Jesus' apparent preference of a woman over them. Their limited understanding and false pride make it impossible for them to comprehend the truth of the Savior's teaching. The reader must both wonder and worry what kind of gospel such proud and ignorant disciples will preach. How are we to understand this story? It is at once reminiscent of the New Testament gospels and yet clearly different from them. The gospel's charactersthe Savior, Mary, Peter, Andrew, and Leviare familiar to those acquainted with the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So, too, is the theological language of gospel and kingdom, as well as such sayings of Jesus as "Those who seek will find" or "Anyone with two ears should listen." And the New Testament gospels and Acts repeatedly mention the appearance of Jesus to his disciples after the resurrection. Yet it is also clear that the story of the Gospel of Mary differs in significant respects. For example, after Jesus commissions the disciples they do not go out joyfully to preach the gospel, as they do in Matthew; instead they weep, fearing for their lives. Some of the teachings also seem shocking coming from Jesus, especially his assertion that there is no such thing as sin. Modern readers may well find themselves sympathizing with Andrew's assessment that "these teachings are strange ideas." The Gospel of Mary was written when Christianity, still in its nascent stages, was made up of communities widely dispersed around the Eastern Mediterranean, communities which were often relatively isolated from one other and probably each small enough to meet in someone's home without attracting too much notice. Although writings appeared earlyespecially letters addressing the concerns of local churches, collections containing Jesus' sayings, and narratives interpreting his death and resurrectionoral practices dominated the lives

T h e C^ospel of ]\Aary of ]\Aagda\a

of early Christians. Preaching, teaching, and rituals of table fellowship and baptism were the core of the Christian experience.2 What written documents they had served at most as supplemental guides to preaching and practice. Nor can we assume that the various churches all possessed the same documents; after all, these are the people who wrote the first Christian literature. Christoph Markschies suggests that we have lost 85% of Christian literature from the first two centuries-and that includes only the literature we know about. 3 Surely there must be even more, for the discovery of texts like the Gospel of Mary came as a complete surprise. We have to be careful that we don't suppose it is possible to reconstruct the whole of early Christian history and practice out of the few surviving texts that remain. Our picture will always be partialnot only because so much is lost, but because early Christian practices were so little tied to durable writing. Partly as a consequence of their independent development and differing situations, these churches sometimes diverged widely in their perspectives on essential elements of Christian belief and practice. Such basic issues as the content and meaning of Jesus' teachings, the nature of salvation, the value of prophetic authority, and the roles of women and slaves came under intense debate. Early Christians proposed and experimented with competing visions of ideal community. It is important to remember, too, that these first Christians had no New Testament, no Nicene Creed or Apostles Creed, no commonly established church order or chain of authority, no church buildings, and indeed no single understanding of Jesus. All of the elements we might consider to be essential to define Christianity did not yet exist. Far from being starting points, the Nicene creed and the New Testament were the end products of these debates and disputes; they represent the distillation of experience and experimentationand not a small amount of strife and struggle. All early Christian literature bears traces of these controversies. The earliest surviving documents of Christianity, the letters of Paul,4 show that considerable difference of opinion existed about such issues as circumcision and the Jewish food laws5 or the relative value of spiritual gifts.6 These and other such contentious issues as whether the resurrection was physical or spiritual were stimulating theological conversations and causing rifts within and among Christian groups. By the time of the Gospel of Mary, these discussions were becoming increasingly nuanced and more polarized. History, as we know, is written by the winners. In the case of early

Introduction

Christianity, this has meant that many voices in these debates were silenced through repression or neglect. The Gospel of Mary, along with other newly discovered works from the earliest Christian period, increases our knowledge of the enormous diversity and dynamic character of the processes by which Christianity was shaped. The goal of this volume is to let twenty-first-century readers hear one of those voicesnot in order to drown out the voices of canon and tradition, but in order that they might be heard with the greater clarity that comes with a broadened historical perspective. Whether or not the message of the Gospel of Mary should be embraced is a matter readers will decide for themselves.

Discovery and Publication

Where did the Gospel of Mary come from? Over a hundred years ago, in January of , a seemingly insignificant event took place on the antiquities market in Cairo. A manuscript dealer, whose name history has forgotten, offered a papyrus book for sale to a German scholar named Dr. Carl Reinhardt. 7 It eventually became clear that the book was a fifth-century CE papyrus codex, written in the Coptic language (see Box 1). Unbeknownst to either of them, it contained the Gospel of Mary along with three other previously unknown works, the Apocryphon of John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, and the Act of Peter.8 This seemingly small event turned out to be of enormous significance. Dr. Reinhardt could tell that the book was ancient, but he knew nothing more about the find than that the dealer was from Achmim in central Egypt (see map of Egypt, p. 12). The dealer told him that a peasant had found the book in a niche of a wall,9 but that is impossible. The book's excellent condition, except for several pages missing from the Gospel of Mary, makes it entirely unlikely that it had spent the last fifteen hundred years unnoticed in a wall niche. N o book could have survived so long in the open air. It may be that the peasant or the dealer had come by it illegally and, hence, was evasive about the actual location of the find. Or it may have been only recently placed in the wall and accidentally found there. In any case, we still don't know anything specific about where it lay hidden all those centuries, although the first editor, Carl Schmidt, assumed that it had to have been found in the graveyards of Achmim or in the area surrounding the city

X k e g o s p e l of ]\Aary of ]\Aagda\a

Bo*

COPTIC LANGUAGE

Although the Gospel of Mary was originally composed in Greek, most of it survives only in Coptic translation. Coptic is the last stage of the Egyptian language and is still in liturgical use by Egyptian Christians, called Copts. The oldest known Egyptian language was written in hieroglyphs, always on stone or some other durable material. In addition, Egyptians also wrote on papyrus, and for this they used a different script called hieratic, employed almost solely for writing sacred literature. A third script, called demotic, was developed for everyday transactions like letter-writing and book-keeping. Each of these scripts is very cumbersome, utilizing different characters or signs to represent whole syllables, not just individual sounds as in English. Sometime during the late Roman period, probably around the second century CE, scribes started writing the Egyptian language in primarily Greek letters, but adding a few from demotic Egyptian. This process made writing Egyptian much simpler and more efficient. Since Coptic script was used almost exclusively by Christians in Egypt, we can assume that Egyptian Christians were the ones who translated and preserved the Gospel of Mary.

Dr. Reinhardt purchased the book and took it to Berlin, where it was placed in the Egyptian Museum with the official tide and catalogue number of Codex Berolinensis There it came into the hands of the Egyptologist Carl Schmidt, who set about producing a critical edition and German translation of what is now generally referred to as the Berlin Codex (see Box 2). From the beginning, the publication was plagued by difficulties. First of all, there is the problem of the missing pages. The first six pages,11 plus four additional pages from the middle of the work, are missing. This means that over half of the Gospel of Mary is completely lost. What happened to these pages? Carl Schmidt thought they must have been stolen or destroyed by whoever found the book. The manuscript itself was found protected inside its original leather and papyrus cover (see photo, p. ii),12 but by the time it reached Carl Schmidt in Berlin, the order of the pages had been considerably jumbled. 13 It took

Introduction

Box

THE BERLIN CODEX

The book Reinhardt bought in Cairo in turned out to be a fifth-century papyrus codex. Papyrus was the most common writing material of the day, but codices, the precursor of our book form, had come into use only a couple of centuries earlier, primarily among Christians. The codex was made by cutting papyrus rolls into sheets, which then were stacked in a single pile, usually made up of at least 38 sheets. Folding the pile in half and sewing the sheets together produced a book of about pages, which was finally placed inside a leather cover. The Gospel ofMary is a short work, taking up only the first 18/4 pages of a codex that itself is relatively small in size, having leaves that measure on average only about cm long and cm wide. (See photos, pp. )

Schmidt some time to realize that the book was nearly intact and must therefore have been found uninjured. In an uncharitable and perhaps even rancorous comment, Schmidt attributed the disorder of the pages to "greedy Arabs" who must also have either stolen or destroyed the missing pages,14 but to this day nothing is known about their fate. We can only hope that they lie protected somewhere and will one day resurface. By Schmidt's edition was ready for publication and was sent to the Priefichen Press in Leipzig. But alas! The printer was nearing completion of the final sheets when a burst water pipe destroyed the entire edition. 15 Soon thereafter Europe plunged into World War I. During the war and its aftermath, Schmidt was unable to go to Leipzig and salvage anything from the mess himself, but he did manage to resurrect the project. This time, however, his work was thwarted by his own mortality. His death on April 17, , caused further delay while the edition was retrieved from his estate and sent to press At this point, another scholar was needed to see its publication through, a task that ultimately fell to Walter Till in 17 In the meantime, in a small third-century Greek fragment of the Gospel of Mary had been found in Egypt (Papyrus Rylands ) (see Box 3). Being parallel to part of the Coptic text, it added no new passages to the Gospel of Mary, but it did provide a few variants and

10

XUe g o s p e l of ]\Aavy of . M a g d a l a

Box 3

WYRUS RYWNDS (PRyl)

This Greek fragment of the Gospel of Mary was acquired by the Rylands Library in Manchester, England, in , and published in by C. H . Roberts.'*1 Like POxy , it was found at Oxyrhynchus in northern Egypt, and dates to the early third century CE. It is a fragment from a codexit has writing on both sides of the papyrus leafand exhibits a very clear literary script. It measures cm wide by 10 cm long, although most fibers measure only cm. The front of the fragment contains the conclusion of Mary's revelation and trie beginning of the disciples' dispute over her teaching. After a short gap, the dispute continues on the other side of the fragment and ends with Levi leaving to announce the good news (GMary ; ). (See photos, pp. 1 and ) additional evidence about the work's early date and its composition in Greek. Till incorporated this new evidence into his edition,19 and by , the edition was again ready to go to press. But now World War II made publication impossible. By the time the war was over, news had reached Berlin of a major manuscript discovery in Egypt near the village of Nag Hammadi. As chance would have it, copies of two of the other texts found within the Berlin Codex along with the Gospel of Mary (Apocryphon of John and Sophia of Jesus Christ) appeared among the new manuscripts. No new copies of Gospel of Mary were found at Nag Hammadi, but publication was delayed yet again as Till waited for information about the new manuscripts so that he could incorporate this new evidence into his edition of the Berlin Codex. But the wheels of scholarship grind slowly, and finally in exasperation, Till gave up. He confides to his readers: In the course of the twelve years during which I have labored over the texts, I often made repeated changes here and there, and that will probably continue to be the case. But at some point a man must find the courage to let the manuscript leave one's hand, even if one is convinced that there is much that is still imperfect. That is unavoidable with all human endeavors

Introduction

11

At last in , the first printed edition of the text of the Gospel of Mary finally appeared with a German translation. Till was right, of course; scholars continue to make changes and add to the record Of foremost importance was the discovery of yet another early third-century Greek fragment of the Gospel of Mary (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus ), which was published in (see Box 4) 22 w i t h the addition of this fragment, we now have portions of three copies of the Gospel of Mary dating from antiquity: two Greek manuscripts from the early third century (P. Rylands and P. Oxyrhynchus ) and one in Coptic from the fifth century (Codex Berolinensis ).

B o * 4- PAPYRUS OXYRHYNCHUS (POxy)

This tiny and severely damaged papyrus fragment of the Gospel of Mary in Greek was found during excavations of the town of Oxyrhynchus, along the Nile in lower (northern) Egypt. Published in by P. J. Parsons, it is now housed in the Ashmolean Library at Oxford It dates to the early third century CE. The fragment has writing on only one side, indicating that it came from a roll, not a codex (book). Because it was written in a cursive Greek script usually reserved for such documentary papyri as business documents and letters rather than literary texts, Parsons suggested that it was the work of an amateur. What remains is a very fragmentary fragment indeed. It contains approximately twenty lines of writing, none of them complete. The papyrus measures cm long and is cm at its widest point, but the top half is only about 4 cm wide. The restoration is based largely on the parallel Coptic text. It contains the Savior's farewell, Mary's comforting of the other disciples, Peter's request to Mary to teach, and the beginning of her vision (GMary ). (See photo, pp. )

Because it is unusual for several copies from such early dates to have survived, the attestation of the Gospel of Mary as an early Christian work is unusually strong. Most early Christian literature that we know about has survived because the texts were copied and then recopied as the materials on which they were written wore out. In

antiquity it was not necessary to burn books one wanted to suppress (although this was occasionally done); if they weren't recopied, they disappeared through neglect. As far as we know, the Gospel of Mary was never recopied after the fifth century; it may have been that the Gospel of Mary was actively suppressed, but it is also possible that it simply dropped out of circulation. Either way, whether its loss resulted from animosity or neglect, the recovery of the Gospel of Mary, in however fragmentary condition, is due in equal measure to phenomenal serendipity and extraordinary good fortune.

Achmim is located in central Egypt along the Nile, less than a hundred miles from the site of another important manuscript find near Nag Hammadi. Oxyrhynchus, the site of the discovery of the Greek fragments of the Gospel of Mary, lies far to the north.

Chapter 2

Papyrus Brolinensis ,1

l 2 (Pages are missing.)

The nature of matter " Will m[a]tter then be utterly [destroyed or not?" 2 The Savior replied, "Every nature, every modeled form, every creature, exists in and with each other. 3They will dissolve again into their own proper root. For the nature of matter is dissolved into what belongs to its nature. 5Anyone with two ears able to hear should listen!" The nature of sin and the Good 'Then Peter said to him, "You have been explaining every topic to us; tell us one other thing. 2 What is the sin of the world?" 3 The Savior replied, "There is no such thing as sin; 4rather you yourselves are what produces sin when you act in accordance with the nature of adultery, which is called 'sin.' 5For this reason, the Good came among you, pursuing (the good) which belongs to every nature. 6 It will set it within its root." j

1 5

"14
7

Tke. Gospel

of ]\Aary of ]\Aagda\a

Then he continued. He said, "This is why you get si[c]k and die: because [you love] what de[c]ei[ve]s [you]. [Anyone who] thinks should consider (these matters)! 10 "[Ma]tter gav[e bi]rth to a passion which has no Image because it derives from what is contrary to nature. A disturbing confusion then occurred in the whole body. 12That is why I told you, 'Become content at heart, 13while also remaining discontent and disobedient; indeed become contented and agreeable (only) in the presence of that other Image of nature.' "Anyone with two ears capable of hearing should listen!"
8

The Savior's farewell 'When the Blessed One had said these things, he greeted them all. "Peace be with you!" he said. "Acquire my peace within yourselves! 3 "Be on your guard 4so that no one deceives you by saying, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!' For the child of true Humanity exists within you. 6Follow it! 7 Those who search for it will find it. 8 "Go then, preac[h] the good news about the Realm. [Do] not lay down any rule beyond what I determined for you, ' nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, or else you might be dominated by it."

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus

"After he had said these things, he departed from them. Mary comforts the other disciples 'But they were distressed and wept gready. "How are we going to go out to the rest of the world to announce the good news about the Realm of the child of true Humanity?" they said. "If they did not spare him, how will they spare us?" 4 Then Mary stood up. She greeted them all, addressing her brothers and sisters, 5 "Do not weep and be distressed nor let j ~J having said [th]ese things, he defparted.] p - Mary comforts the other ~"^ disciples [But they were distressed, weeping greatly.] "How [are we to] g[o to the rest of the world preaching the good] news of the Rea[lm of the child of true Humanity?" they said. 3 "For if] they [did not spare him,] how will they keep [away from] us?" 4 [Then Mary stood up and greeted] them; she tenderly kissed [them all and said, "Brothers and sisters, do not
11

Translation

15

BQ
your hearts be irresolute. For his grace will be with you all and will shelter you. 7Rather we should praise his greatness, for he has prepared us and made us true Human beings." When Mary had said these things, she turned their heart [tojward the Good, 10and they began to deba[t]e about the wor[d]s of [the Savior]. Peter asks Mary to teach. 'Peter said to Mary, "Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than all other women. Tell us the words of the Savior that you remember, the things which you know that we don't because we haven't heard them." 3 Mary responded, "I will teach you about what is hidden from you." 4And she began to speak these words to them.
9

POxy
weep, do not be disjtressed nor be in doubt. 6 [For his grace will be w]ith you sheltering you. 7 Rather [we should] praise his [great]ness, 8for he has united us and [made (us)] true Human beings." [When Ma]ry [said these things] she turned their mind to[ward the Good 10and they began to debat]e about the sayings of the Saviofr. Peter asks Mary to teach Peter said to] Mary, "Sister, we know that you were greatly [loved by the Sav]ior, as no other woman, therefore tell us t[hose wor]ds of the Savior which [you know] but which we haven't heard." 3 [Mary] re[plied, "I will] rep[ort to you as much as] I remember that is unknown to you." 4[And she began (to speak) the]se words [to them].

Vision and mind 'She said, "I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, 'Lord, I saw you today in a

vision. 3 He answered me, 'How wonderful you are for not wavering at seeing me! 4For where the mind is, there is the treasure.' 5 I said to him, 'So now, Lord, does a person who sees a vision see it <with> the soul <or> with the spirit?'

Vision and mind '"When [the Lord] ap[peared] to m[e] in a vision, [I said], 'Lord, today [I sawy]ou.' 3 "He replied, ['How wonderful you are ' "]

~7

"16

T k e g o s p e l of ]\Aat*y of ]\Aagda\a

BQ
"The Savior answered, 'A person does not see with the soul or with the spirit. 7 'Rather the mind, which exists between these two, sees the vision an[d] that is w[hat ] ' Q (Pages are missing.) The ascent of the soul
""It.
2",

And Desire said, 'I did not see you go down, yet now I see you go up. So why do you lie since you belong to me?' The soul answered, 'I saw you. You did not see me nor did you know me. You (mis)took the garment (I wore) for my (true) self. 6 And you did not recognize me.' 7 After it had said these things, it left rejoicing greatly. 8 Again, it came to the third Power, which is called 'Ignorance.' 9 [It] examined die soul closely, saying, 'Where are you going? 10You are bound by wickedness. Indeed you are bound! 12Do not judge!' 13 And the soul said, 'Why do you judge me, since I have not passed judgement? 14I have been bound, but I have not bound (anything). 1 They did not recognize me, but I have recognized that the universe is to be dissolved, both the things of earth and those of heaven.' When the soul had brought the third Power to naught, it went upward and saw the fourth Power. It had seven forms. 18The first form is darkness; 19the second is desire; 20the third is ignorance; 21the fourth is zeal for death; 22the fifth is the realm of the flesh; 23the sixth is the foolish wisdom of the flesh; 4 the seventh is the wisdom of the wrathful person. 25These are the seven Powers of Wrath. 26 They interrogated the soul, 'Where are you coming from, human-killer, and where are you going, space-conqueror?' 27 The soul replied, saying, 'What binds me has been slain, and what surrounds me has been destroyed, and my desire has been brought to an end, and ignorance has died. 28In a [wor]ld, I was set loose from a world [an]d in a type, from a type which is above, and (from) the chain of forgetfulness Papyrus Ryknds (PRyl) which exists in time. 29From this " ' for the rest of the course hour on, for the time of the due of the [due] measure of the time season of the aeon, I will receive of the aeon, I will rest i[n] rest i[n] silence.' " silence.' "

Translation

17

B<3
After Mary had said these things, she was silent, 3l since it was up to this point that the Savior had spoken to her. si r\
30

PRyl
After she had said these [words], Mary was sile[n]t, 31 for the Savior had spoken up to this point.

A f\ The disciples' dispute The disciples' dispute over Mary's teaching over Mary's teaching 'Andrew sai[d, Andrew responded, addressing the brothers and sisters, "B]rothers, what is your opinion of what was just said? "Say what you will about the Indeed I do not believe that the things she has said, 2 but I do not S[a]vior said these things, for believe that the S[a]vior said these things, ft or] indeed these teachings what she said appears to give views that are [different from are strange ideas." 3 h[is th]ought." Peter responded, bringing up 3 similar concerns. He questioned After examining these them about the Savior: "Did he, ma[tt]ers, <Peter said>, "Has then, speak with a woman in prithe Sa[vior] spoken secretly to a vate without our knowing about it? wo[m]an and <not> openly so 4 Are we to turn around and listen that [we] would all hear? 4 to her? Did he choose her over [Surely] he didfnot want to us?" show] that [she] is more worthy than we are?" Then [M]ary wept and said to 6 Peter, "My brother Peter, what are " about the Savior." 6 7 you imagining? Do you think that Levi said to Peter, "Peter, I have thought up these things by you are al[ways] rea[dy] to give myself in my heart or that I am way to you[r] perpetual inclinatelling lies about the Savior?" tion to anger. And even now 7 you are doing exactly that by Levi answered, speaking to Peter, "Peter, you have always been questioning the woman as though you're her adversary. 9If a wrathful person. Now I see you contending against the woman like the Savio[r] considered her to be worthy, who are you to disthe Adversaries. 'For if the Savior regard her? For he knew her made her worthy, who are you completely (and) loved her then for your part to reject her? stea[df]ast[ly]. '"Assuredly the Savior's knowledge n of her is completely reliable. That "Rath[e]r [we] should be is why he loved her more than us. ashamed and, once we have clothed [ou]rselves with the ""Rather we should be

18

T k e C\os pel of M< lci(*y of A^agdala

BQ
ashamed. We should clothe ourselves with the perfect Human, acquire it for ourselves as he commanded us, ' and announce the good news, 13not laying down any other rule or law that differs from what the Savior said." 14 After [he had said these] things, they started going out [to] teach and to preach. [The Gos]pel according to Mary
15

PRyl
p[erfec]t Human, we should do what [w]e were commanded. [We] should announce [the] good n[e]ws as [the] Savior sai[d], 13and not be la[y]ing down any rules or maki[n]g laws." 14 After he had said [the]se things, Le[vi] le[ft] (and) began to anno[unce the good ne]ws. 1 [The Gospel according to Mary]

Chapter 3

Since the first six manuscript pages of the Berlin Codex, constituting approximately one third of the text, are missing, and no Greek fragments of this portion of the text exist, we are left ignorant of how the work actually begins. The first surviving page opens in the middle of a discussion between the Savior and his disciples. However, both the commissioning scene () and the reference to the death of the Savior () which appear later in the text indicate that the setting is a post-resurrection appearance of the Savior to his disciples.1 Indeed, all the commissioning scenes from the New Testament gospel literature occur after the resurrection. 2 The disciples in the Gospel of Mary must already know about the Savior's death, since they fear that they might suffer the same fate. Post-resurrection appearances are found in all four of the New Testament gospels and Acts, as well as many other early Christian writings such as First Apocalypse of James and Dialogue of the Savior* While they function to substantiate the reality of Jesus' resurrection, these appearances portray the post-resurrection period primarily as a time when Jesus gave special teaching 4 and commissioned disciples to go forth and preach the gospel.5 Post-resurrection scenes typically include at least some of the following elements: the appearance of the risen

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~X\\e. (gospel of ]\Aary of ]\Aagda\a

Lord, rebuke of fearful or grieving disciples, the association of special teaching with the risen Lord, the disciples as the recipients of the teaching, the mention of opponents, persecution for holding secret teaching, arid a commissioning scene.6 All of these elements are found in the Gospel of Mary, although it is focused heavily upon presenting the Savior's teaching, whether in his own words or through Mary's account of the revelation to her. The title appended to the text identifies this book as a "gospel," a term commonly associated with a story of Jesus' life and teaching. But for the earliest Christians it meant not so much a biographical account as the "good news" of the kingdom 7 ; it indicated the message and promise of the Savior, not the genre of the work. Indeed, the Gospel of Mary better fits the formal conventions of a post-resurrection dialogue. 8 It is structured as a series of dialogues and departures: 1) the dialogue between the Savior and the disciples, followed by the Savior's departure; 2) the dialogue among the disciples, followed by their departure (or at least Levi's departure) to preach the gospel; 3) the dialogue between the Savior and Mary, ending in her silence; and 4) the dialogues between the soul and the Powers, culminating in the soul's departure from the world to its final resting place. These dialogues not only communicate the content of the Gospel of Mary, but they also emphasize the dialogical character of its teaching and their messages are amplified by the work's structure. For example, the structural similarity between the two main dialogues (1 and 2) authorizes Mary's teaching and her leadership role by placing her in a position parallel to that of the Savior: it is she who steps into the Savior's place by turning the other disciples toward the Good and providing them with advanced spiritual instruction. Moreover, while the first dialogue stands alone, the other three dialogues are embedded within one another, creating an ordered layering of teaching that draws the reader deeper and deeper inward. In the outer layer of the dialogue, the disciples are fearful and contentious, mistakenly concerned with the survival of their physical shells and jealous of their standing in the group. The next layer models the true disciple: Mary's complete comprehension of the Savior's teaching is signaled by her stability, her capacity to comfort and teach the Savior's words, and ultimately by her restful silence. The final and innermost layer of the dialogues takes place between the soul and the Powers, circling inward and upward toward the triumphal journey of the soul out of darkness and ignorance to exuberant joy and eternal rest. Both the content and

Gospel, Revelation, Dialogue

31

the configuration lead the reader inward toward the stability, power, and freedom of the true self, the soul set free from the false powers of ignorance, passion, and death. In this way, the structure of the Gospel of Mary reproduces the same message as the Savior's teaching: "Acquire my peace within yourselves\ For the child of true Humanity exists within you. Follow it! Those who seek for it will find it." 9 The repeated motif of departure also binds together content and structure, conveying the message that understanding requires a change of situation and action. The Savior's departure signals the eventual departure of the disciples, such that going out to preach the gospel becomes a step on the soul's journey to the Divine. The hearers are not to remain in this world, but are to follow the path of the Savior in preaching the gospel even as they are to follow the child of true Humanity within, the path forged by the soul in overcoming the Powers in. the asceat to the Good. The repetition, of the commission to preach, once at the end of the first dialogue and again at the conclusion of the gospel, functions formally to tie the Savior's departure to the disciples' mission to preach. Preaching the gospel is the direct consequence of understanding the Savior's message. Throughout the journey of the soul toward comprehension, dialogue is key. The model for this dialogue is the ancient ideal of a pedagogical relationship in which the teacher's words and acts comprise a model to which the disciple ought to conform. Ancient culture was deeply suspicious of writing if it became detached from this intimate model, and Christians very early transformed this widespread ideal by understanding Jesusnot Scriptureas the truest revelation of God. As the second century theologian Irenaeus of Lyon argued, the incarnation of Jesus made God visible, so that by "becoming what we are, He might bring us to be even what He is Himself."10 Irenaeus insisted: "We could have learned in no other way than by seeing our Teacher, and hearing His voice with our own ears, that, having become imitators of His works as well as doers of His words we may have communion with Him, receiving increase from the perfect One, and from Him who is prior to all creation."11 For Irenaeus, both what one saw of the Lord and what one heard from him were equally to be enacted. While in many respects Irenaeus' theology differs significantly from that of the Gospel of Mary,12 they agree that following the Savior requires both comprehension of his teaching and imitation of his actions. For the Gospel of Mary, communion with God was formed in dialogue with the Savior; the relationship between teacher and

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T h e C\ospe\ of ]\Aary of ]\Aagda\a

student cultivated an accurate understanding of divine reality and a pattern for ethical behavior. The message of the dialogue form is that relationship is fundamental to salvation, both that between teacher and student and that formed among the disciples in the community of faith and in their mission. In the Gospel of Mary, first the Savior and then Mary take up the role of the teacherthe Savior by answering the questions of his followers, Mary by recounting her dialogue with him. Dialogue is the primary form of instruction because it insists upon the active participation of the student. The Savior attempts to inculcate proper attitudes in his disciplesfor example by warning them not to fear the dangers that lay ahead, or by praising Mary's behavior when she had a vision of him: "Blessed are you for not wavering at the sight of me!" Her stability showed that she had overcome the fear that usually accompanies the appearance of a divine being. The interaction aims not at domination by the teacher, but at bringing the student to the level of the teacher; the Savior seeks to meet the needs of the disciples and raise their level of understanding as much as possible, even to the point where they are able to succeed him. The Savior has clearly been successful in this aim with Mary, since she is able to take his place after his departure. When the disciples are distressed at the Savior's departure, Mary comforts them precisely by turning their hearts and minds toward a discussion of the Savior's words. She responds to their request for teaching not in order to put herself above them, but in order to meet their need to understand more fully. While dialogical pedagogy does presume that the teacher's status is higher than that of the student, this difference is neither permanent nor absolute; it should wane and at last disappear as the student progresses. The disciples are to find and appropriate the truth of the Savior's teaching for themselves, at which point they will no longer need a teacher. Indeed the Savior warns them against looking for some hero to save them; they are to look within: "Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, 'Look over here!' or 'Look over there!' For the child of true Humanity exists within you." 13 Rather than accept an external authority, they themselves are to discover the truth in order to achieve the freedom and efficacy of the undominated soul. The Savior's teaching against illegitimate domination pervades the Gospel of Mary. He explicitly instructs them not to "lay down any rule beyond what I determined for you, nor promulgate law like the lawgiver, lest you be dominated by it."14 Elaine Pagels has pointed out

Gospel, Revelation, Dialogue

33

that Peter's attempt to denounce Mary as a liar recalls such other attempts to silence women as that of 1 Cor "the women should keep silence in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, even as the law says."n So too the Powers attempt to maintain their domination over the soul by judging and condemning it, much as in a law court. But the knowing soul resists and undermines their domination by refusing to play their game and by offering truth in the place of deception. It is true that both where Peter and Andrew challenge Mary, and where the Powers challenge the soul, the Gospel of Mary exposes how dialogue can foster harmful relationships as well as salutary ones. But it also offers a strategy for overcoming that harm: Speak the truth to power, call enslaving law and condemnation by their true namesdeception and domination. True teaching does not deceive and dominate, it frees. Thus while dialogue by itself is not always good, it is crucial to creating proper relationships. In the Gospel of Mary I tend to translate "kingdom" as "realm" precisely because the text's language itself is straining to articulate a sense of reality in which power is exerted for spiritual freedom not royal domination. So, too, the language of the "Son of Man" strains against the Gospel of Mary's ideal of a nongendered space in which men and women exercise leadership based on their spiritual development and the resulting capacity to meet the needs of others. Here the phrase "Son of Man" is translated "child of true Humanity". The dialogical form and content of the Gospel of Mary work together to communicate true teaching about the gospel of the Divine Realm. The soul's journey past the wicked Powers provides a narrative portrait of perfect humanity moving inward to discover the divine Good within. Here the soul, the true self, is purged of all its ignorance and attachment to the body. It is powerful and joyous. This vision of the perfected self forms the core of the text's deepest teaching. Both the content and the structure prompt the reader to look inward, toward the true self. The form of post-resurrection dialogue also functions to authorize the Gospel of Mary's teachingeven in the face of oppositionby attributing it to revelation. Here again form, function, and content work together. Many early Christian writings indicate that teachings received through appearances or visions of the risen Savior were considered to have a special validity. Already in Galatians, for example, it is clear that Paul considers the teaching that he received in a

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T k e C\ospe\ of ]\/\ar-y of ]\Aagda\a

revelation of Jesus Christ to be more trustworthy than that which is passed on by mere humans. 16 Similarly, the authority of Revelation derives from its claim to record "the revelation of Jesus Christ" given to John The post-resurrection setting of the Gospel of Mary similarly functions to authorize its teaching. By showing that Mary takes over important functions of the Savior, especially in comforting the disciples and providing them with special teaching, the Gospel of Mary associates opposition to Mary with opposition to the Savior. Those who oppose her oppose the Savior, and are on the side of the Powers who fight against the soul's escape. And having grounded its teaching on the authority of the Savior, the Gospel of Mary situates that teaching within the context of interChristian debate about salvation, the nature of sin and the world, the fate of the soul, the reliability of apostolic authority, and the question of women's leadership roles.

Part II
The Savior's Teaching in the Gospel of Nary

Chapter 4

~C\\& B o d y &. t k e

WWId

The Savior's teaching makes up the substantial core of the Gospel of Mary, and Jesus is the central figure in salvation. He is called the Lord and Savior, and his teaching holds the key to eternal life with God. But the interpretation of that teaching in the Gospel of Mary differs radically from other common understandings. While it affirms the death and resurrection of Jesus, these events are not the core of Christian belief but rather the occasion for the disciples' mission to preach the gospel. The Gospel of Mary focuses instead on Jesus as a teacher and mediator of divine revelation. The Savior teaches that at death, the human body dissolves into the elements out of which it came; only the spiritual soul is immortal and lives forever. This knowledge leads people to discover the truth about themselvesthat they are spiritual beings made in the Image of Godand it allows them to overcome the worldly attachments and bodily passions that lead to suffering and death. Therefore the final goal of salvation is not the resurrection of the body at the end of the age, but the ascent of the soul to Godboth in this life by following the Savior's teaching, and at death when the bonds between the body and the soul are loosened beyond time and eternity. There is no hell and no eternal punishment in the Gospel of Mary's teachings, for God is not conceived as a wrath-

37

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X k e C\ospe\ of J\Aary of ]SAagdla\a

ful ruler or judge, but is called simply the Good. Nor is God called Father, for gender, sexuality, and the social roles ascribed to them are part of the lower material realm. Even the true spiritual nature of human beings is non-gendered, so that people are truly neither male nor female, but simply Human in accordance with the divine Image of the transcendent Good. Moral effort is centered on inner spiritual transformation, not on sin and judgment. Service to others is primarily understood as teaching people to follow the words of the Savior and preaching the gospel of the Divine Realm. The establishment of excessive laws and rules within the Christian community is understood as a tool for domination and is unnecessary for proper order. These teachings were no doubt shaped not only in conversation and controversy with other Christians, but also, as we will see, in the crucibles of ancient intellectual and social life among the diverse societies under Roman imperial rule. While Jesus and most of his earliest followers were Jews, Christianity quickly spread around the edges of the Eastern Mediterranean, from Rome to Egypt, garnering Gentile followers as well as Jews living outside of Judaea/Palestine. The earliest extant Christian literature, the letters of Paul, documents the spread of Christianity through Asia Minor to the imperial capital of Rome itself during the first decades after the death of Jesus in Jerusalem. When Gentiles encountered the teachings of Jesus, many of the earlier connections to Jewish faith and practice receded, while the belief systems and world views of the new Gentile Christians brought other issues to the fore. Tensions over whether Gentiles who accepted Jesus needed to be circumcised or follow dietary laws gave way to other concerns. Some elements already in the Jesus tradition became more prominent, especially when they intersected with philosophical speculation and popular pieties. The Gospel of Mary provides one example of these kinds of Christianity. The Gospel of Mary presents many familiar sayings of Jesus, but they are interpreted in a framework that may seem foreign to modern readers used to reading the literature of the New Testament as part two of the Bible, following the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament. Interpreting the life and deeds of Jesus and his followers as the fulfillment of Hebrew Scriptures was crucial to early Christian claims that faith in Christ had superseded Judaism and indeed that Christians were the true Israel. By the fourth and fifth centuries this perspective was able to claim the name of orthodoxy for itself and

Th Body Bth World

39

condemn other views as heretical. In contrast, the theology of the Gospel of Mary shows almost no ties to Judaism since it developed out of the thought world of Gentile philosophy. Yet the fact is that determining the proper relationship to Judaism became the single most important factor in distinguishing orthodoxy from heresy in the early period. Scholars themselves have been so influenced by the dominant orthodoxy that they have divided early Christianity into three basic types following this same factor. I call this the Three Bears story of Christian origins; that is perhaps somewhat flippant, but the illustration works too well not to use it. Jewish Christianity is too much Judaism and takes too positive an attitude toward Jewish practices like Sabbath observance and synagogue attendance. Gnosticism is too little Judaism or takes too negative an attitude toward Jewish scriptures and traditions. While orthodoxy is just right, drawing a firm line between Christians and Jews while simultaneously appropriating Jewish scripture and tradition for its own by claiming that they can be properly interpreted only in the context of their fulfillment by Christ.1 While this modern division of Christianity accurately reproduces the politics of normative Christian identity formation, it does not accurately describe how Christianity developed. Jewish Christianity and Gnosticism are modern inventions that have allowed scholars to categorize the diversity of early Christianities into a simple and indeed simplistic scheme, dividing the tremendous diversity of early Christianity into two basic types: orthodox and heretical. This scheme emphasizes the differences between orthodox and heretical theologies, overlooking the many similarities that existed. The real situation was much more convoluted and complex than this binary division suggests. Moreover, this scheme has allowed scholars almost effortlessly to classify the Gospel of Mary as a work of Gnostic heresy without looking carefully at what it is saying or striving to understand what it tells us about the development of early Christianity. One scholar even questioned whether the Gospel of Mary was Christian at all!2 The old master story of the history of early Christianity is now being challenged and rewritten, primarily on the basis of newly discovered early Christian works. Not only the works from Nag Hammadi 3 and the Berlin Codex, but the Gospel of the Savior (recendy discovered in the Berlin Egyptian Museum 4 ), a new version of the Gospel of Matthew from the Schoyen Codex,5 and other works not yet

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T h e g o s p e l of .Mary of ]\Aagda\a