The Magdalene Review

I obtained a recording of a UK television documentary from Demand Five called “Mary Magdalene: Saint or Sinner?” and watched it this evening. A fairly typical documentary, it includes dramatic narration asking all of the sensational questions being bandied about in our post-Da Vinci Code culture, a round-up of experts, and actors dramatizing the topics being discussed.

From the Demand Five description of the show:

As the key witness to the Resurrection of Christ, Mary Magdalene occupies a unique place in Christianity – yet she remains one of the most mysterious women in history. Little is known of her life and her appearance in the Bible centres around two key moments – the Crucifixion and her discovery of Christ alive outside his tomb. After alerting the apostles to his return from the dead, Mary all but disappears from the story.

Mary Magdalene has been the subject of much debate throughout history. For centuries, her reputation was tarnished by the popular perception that she was a prostitute, even though the Bible never refers to her as such.

In recent years, popular fiction has put another spin on Mary’s image, with the theory that she may have been Jesus’ wife and the mother of his child. These stories are influenced by a French legend which holds that Mary travelled to Provence after Christ’s death – but scholars remain unconvinced.

All of the requisite topics are covered: the canonical Gospel references, the Gnostic texts, the “rivalry” between Peter and MM, MM’s demons, Gregory the Great’s official conflation MM with other unnamed women, the lack of support for the “harlot” reputation, MM’s journey to France and retirement to the grotto, speculation on whether she was intimate with Jesus, and more.

In all, I was satisfied with the answers provided by the experts. Most comments were made in a sensible context, which isn’t always the case after an interview has been edited into a documentary format. A few comments seem to stray out of character a bit, such as Tal Ilan asking rhetorically, “was she possessed by demons?” I seriously doubt whether Ilan was wondering if MM was actually possessed, after speculating about physiological problems commonly mistaken for demon-possession during the 1st century, and chalk it up to an effect of editing.

Most interesting about this documentary, I thought, was the repeated emphasis both by the narrator and by the experts that, if Christianity is a religion based on the death and resurrection of Jesus, and if Mary Magdalene was the first witness of the resurrection as noted in the Gospels, we could say that Mary Magdalene is the founder of Christianity. I’ve entertained this notion more than once over the years, but ultimately didn’t try to make much traction with it. So I was surprised to see the idea receiving a serious airing in this show, and was glad it was a perspective being discussed. I think I’ll add “Founder of Christianity” to the long list of roles MM has played in Western culture.