The Magdalene Mystique - The Path Inward

Last night I was eager to see the film The Lost Tomb of Jesus. Afterall, it was extraordinary news that the family tomb of Jesus “may” have been discovered underneath apartments in Jerusalem. The film was to give an account of this discovery and to detail the probability statistics regarding the inscriptions “Jesus, son of Joseph,” “Maria,” and “Mariamne, the master,” among others.

Yet there had been enough news coverage prior to the showing, that I was wary. Looking back, I am grateful for the preparation. I was ready to listen carefully. I was better prepared to use my God-given powers of reason, to watch for the illogical leaps to conclusions. Better prepared than when, for example, I watched Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ and remained in my seat, without bolting.

This time I was ready to raise red flags. This time I could peek through the images and music to see the manipulation.

Later, when I watched Ted Koppel’s panel of scholars, I could hear Professor Judy Fentress-Williams of Virgina Theological Seminary, who kept bringing up “critical thinking.” She spoke of the power that dramatizations have upon us, the viewers, even when dramas are depicting merely an hypothesis, and at best a shakey one. As I recall, she named such film dramas “a form of deception.”

It is true that I delighted in those parts of the film that rolled out the new Mary Magdalene as a “master” and teacher in the early days of the Christian movement. Afterall, this new view of Mary Magdalene is what my book The Magdalene Mystique is all about.

But this film is more adventure discovery than documentation. I have the sense that it has “used” bits and pieces of new scholarship. The new research in academic circles about Mary Magdalene and Jesus seeks to overturn the multiple legends and fiction and to focus on what we can “actually say.” Furthermore, it is important in scholarship to await a consensus.

There must be a better way than in filmmaking to report to the public about new findings and insight. Specifically, I am thinking of the new story about Mary Magdalene, her new image as an apostle, visionary, and spiritual leader that has recently been discovered — the new story that has brought our contempoary Magdalene community into greater shalom.

Perhaps developing other small communities in different places would help seed this new story. lost tomb of jesusmariamnejesus son of josephjesus family tomb