The history of women in Christianity is symbolized well in the Gospel of Mary. Left out of Biblical canon and lost for a great period of time, Mary’s gospel is one that has been overlooked and maybe even brushed over. Her gospel and the circumstances surrounding it are a testament to the oppressive and controlling sentiments of men in Biblical times onwards.
The Gospel of Mary was first found some time around 1896, but not published until 1983. This version was written in Coptic, and two Greek translations have since been found as well. Despite the significance of Mary’s gospel, it took nearly a century for her work to be published for the public to see. Hidden for thousands of years, the Gospel of Mary has been deliberately suppressed or forgotten from its creation to near modern times. Today, it’s truth and authenticity is actively denied by the Christian community. The way in which the work has been rejected and hidden speaks, I think, to the misogyny that has pervaded within society since the time of Jesus himself.
A female apostle as the most important confidante and companion of Jesus is something that was considered unworthy of publication when the Bible was being written, and maybe even not important enough to publish throughout the majority of the twentieth century. Mary being more than just a prostitute undermines the message that women are inferior and meant to be subservient. The idea that a woman could be a figure of importance and power in the text that informs essentially all of Christian life was so detestable that Christians actively reject it, even when the gospel is considered authentic.
Had Mary’s gospel been included in the Bible, and her importance made significant, I think that the way our society functions would be radically different. Jesus trusts Mary so much that he confides in her things he never does to his male apostles, elevating her to a platform that is more important than the men. She is even so knowledgeable as to offer the men advice. Her role in the gospel plays into and out of the traditional role of women in fascinating ways. Women today are often perceived as nurturers who soothe and calm men, and Mary does just that in her gospel. However, she holds knowledge that the men are not privy to, and is loved more than the men by arguably the most important figure in western culture. Had society had such a powerful female figure to look up to, I wonder if women’s opinions would have held more weight than they did.
As mentioned in my comments on the Gospel of Judas, I find it amazing that what is supposed to be Christianity’s most true, trustworthy, and important text has actually been touched and tainted so much by human bias. What is taught as concrete is, in reality, complex and unreliable. Ancient figures shaped the way that our society functions today, and it’s difficult to shake the biases and half-truths that have informed our way of life.
Here are the links to some of the other sources I consulted in learning about the Gospel of Mary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mary
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/mary.html