September 4, 2024
Growing up Catholic, I learned about the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – and never thought about the possibility of the existence of others. A few years ago, however, my parents and I watched The Da Vinci Code, a movie that references both The Gospel of Mary Magdalene and The Gospel of Philip, which I did find a bit strange but forgot about soon after. This assignment was my first time reading any Gospels not from the Bible, and I can see why the Church did not include The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
For one thing, it’s too recent. Dated to the early second century B.C., the book could not have been written by anyone who was an eyewitness to Jesus’ life, unlike the Gospels from the Bible which were written between about A.D. 60 and A.D. 100, easily within the lifespan of people who knew and walked with Jesus (whose death is put at about A.D. 30). This disparity means that Mary’s Gospel could not have been written by her, meaning it is not really The Gospel of Mary Magdalene but The Gospel of Some Unnamed Person Pretending to Be Mary Magdalene and it means the author’s sources would have likely all been secondhand.
For another thing, Jesus’ actions and way of speaking are wildly different in this book compared to the four Biblical Gospels. In those, there are few examples of Jesus sharing information with only one disciple, and none I can think of where He gives special, secret teaching to one specific disciple. The main example of this is Jesus making Peter the first Pope and giving Peter, and by extension the rest of the Apostles and all priests, the power to forgive sins. This was private because only Peter was the Pope; the other Apostles did not need to be there. In Mary’s Gospel, however, Jesus gives her special teaching because He, “loved [her] more than all other women,” which leads into my next point that Jesus never shows favoritism to any of his disciples; indeed, when the Apostles ask him who the greatest amongst them is, Jesus replies that, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Jesus tells his disciples that He does not believe any of them are greater than any other, yet in Mary’s Gospel He picks favorites with her? There are two different narratives being presented here, which just serves to exemplify the fact that this Gospel cannot have been written by an eyewitness.
Overall, I thought it was an interesting read. There were some parts that lined up with what is said in the Bible, but the majority of the text, alongside the date discrepancy, means I do not entirely believe that this is legitimately the work of Mary of Magdala.