The Magdalene Mystique » 2007 » March

The Author

Betty Conrad Adam, an Episcopal priest, is resident Canon Theologian at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, and spiritual director of the Magdalene Community. She holds a PhD in philosphy from Rice University and was a recipient of a Merrill Fellowship at the Harvard Divinity School.

The Book

The Magdalene Mystique retells the story of Mary Magdalene for our time. As the consummate “other” who is mislabelled and demonized, the Magdalene becomes an ancestor who can help us bridge our cultural and religious divisions. Her lost Gospel tells us how a more deeply connected consciousness can happen to all of us and how we can be lead into a “shared peace.”

The CD

The Magdalene Mystique: Songs From Within by Anita Kruse is a companion to the book, The Magdalene Mystique. The music that accompanies our services can be found on this CD along with voices from other religious traditions. You will find this music helpful for private devotion or for use in your community.

What if we did discover that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married?

posted March 12th, 2007 at 4:55 pm by Betty

When I wrote The Magdalene Mystique, I had no intention of suggesting that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. And yet, as I studied the famous dialogue between Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of John, I began to find hints that this was the case. To be sure, I make no claim to prove that they were married. I only suggest a hint. In the end we have to say that at this time in historical research we simply can’t know.

Scholars vary about this of course. Esther de Boer sees a kinship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus rather than a marriage. She finds in the Gospel of John a portrait of the Magdalene as belonging to a group of relatives to Jesus, and suggests that the Magdalene was either a sister-in-law or a niece of Jesus’ mother. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb to care for the body and receives comfort in close proximity as a relative. In the garden encounter he calls her by name and her response as Rabbouni suggests the intimacy of a kinship.[see DeBoer, The Gospel of Mary,(Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1997):157-158]

Another scholar, Marvin Meyer, says while a reasonable case can be made that Jesus and Mary Magdalene may have been married, their love expressed in the Gospel of John seems more platonic and spiritual than physical. [see Marvin Meyer, The Gospels of Mary
(HarperSan Francisco, 2204) Meyer Perhaps they were married, perhaps not. We do not know.

But what seems important to me is that we are talking about this. The Da Vinci Code has started most of the stir and now the Talpiot Tomb discoveries are continuing the talk. This is a good thing. I have to say when I saw the photographs of the Jesus and Mariamne ossuaries in the book The Jesus Family Tomb, I was taken into a deep place in my heart. For me, it would be just fine to find out that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.

My guess is that we will never know about an actual marriage, and we will never know whether the Talpiot Tombs tell us about Jesus’s family. But let’s continue the talk. For in our conversation, we are called into confronting our our own views about sexuality and its sacredness.

If Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, it certainly brings sexuality back to its sacredness that it has lost for thousands of years. As Jean-Yves Leloup says in his The Gospel of Mary Magdalene : if Jesus were married, sexuality is then redeemed — something sorely needed in our era. [see Leloup (Rochester:Innner Traditions, 2002):11. mary magdalene Esther de Boer Jean-Yves Leloup marvin meyer sacred marriage