“Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, were his plural wives, and Mary Magdalene was another.”
(Brigham Young’s 19th wife, on Young’s belief that Jesus was married)

There is quite a tradition within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints that not only was Jesus married, but he was married to multiple wives.  When I think about this, it brings to mind the scenes from The Last Temptation of Christ, in which Jesus walks to town with his wives, Mary and Martha of Bethany, with whom he has a small brood of children after the death of his first wife, Mary Magdalene.  It’s not really a new idea if the Mormon church has been nurturing such ideas since the 19th century at least.

Today the subject of polygamy within the Mormon church is controversial, to say the least.  While it’s clearly part of the church’s past, it seems that the church as an organization wants to move past that legacy.  There are some within the faith, however, who recognize the practice as part of their spiritual heritage, and they continue to practice plural marriage (in this world, not the next) to this day.

I came across a blog post about this the other day.  In a Mormon Coffee post called “Sister Wives,” blogger Sharon Lindbloom discusses an upcoming TLC reality show about a modern Mormon family with one husband, four wives, and thirteen children.  Lindbloom points toward some fascinating passages from a book called Jesus Was Married, by Anne Wilde (and her husband), including this one which quotes Orson Pratt, an early leader of the church:

“One thing is certain, that there were several holy women that greatly loved Jesus — such as Mary, and Martha her sister, and Mary Magdalene; and Jesus greatly loved them, and associated with them much; and when He arose from the dead, instead of showing Himself to His chosen witnesses, the Apostles, He appeared first to these women, or at least to one of them — namely, Mary Magdalene. Now it would be natural for a husband in the resurrection to appear first to his own dear wives, and afterwards show himself to his other friends. If all the acts of Jesus were written, we no doubt should learn that these beloved women were His wives.” (Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 159)

It looks like the book may be hard to find, but it seems like an interesting read.  Maybe a trip to the university library is in order.  In the meantime, I wanted to point out another interesting book about Mormonism, Jesus, marriage, and Mary Magdalene:  Dynasty of the Holy Grail: Mormanism’s Sacred Bloodline, by Vern G. Swanson.  I’m still reading through it, but it doesn’t appear nearly as sensational as the title.  It contains some fantastic resources on the subject.

If any readers happen to see an episode of Sister Wives, I would love to hear whether Mary Magdalene’s name is dropped anywhere!

In the blog Irreducible Complexity, a post called “Messiahs, Mary and Mysogyny” caught my attention. Blog author, Ian, started out the piece by discussing how new religion messianic figures (i.e., cult leaders) tend to succumb to the temptation of taking advantage of their flock by sleeping with the female members. Granted, this doesn’t ALWAYS happen (I assume), but it occurs frequently enough to be not terribly surprising, even predictable.

Into this discussion, Ian turns his attention to the original Jesus movement, which at the time really was just a little cult of people following their messianic leader.  Assuming that Jesus was only human (a position with which I know not everyone will agree), could he have been faced with the same situation?  Could it have occurred?

This is a new take, I think, on the potential relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.  Some will surely find this offensive, but in the interest of free inquiry, it’s certainly another perspective to consider.

Maybe you’ve found yourself in a moment of silence, pondering Mary Magdalene, when all of a sudden a thought occurs to you: “I wonder how to say ‘Saint Mary Magdalene’ in other languages?”

Well, you’re in luck.  I just happened to be asking myself that same question today (and several other days, in fact), so I decided to do something about it.   Read the rest of this entry »

I think I’m going to do some work on my Blogroll.  It’s been a very long time since I’ve revised it, and I’m not doing the same kind of critical textual research that I was doing when I first put it together.  Although I still adore many of the blogs listed there, I’ve decided to pare it down a bit and add some new links that are much more related to my topic.

There are very few blogs out there about Mary Magdalene, it seems.  I’ve decided that those of us who ARE blogging about her should stick together!  I’ll be trying to find more Mary Magdalene blogs that might be lurking out there and include them in my links.

Adding today:

• MaryMagdaleneWithin Blog
• Mary Magdalene: History, Legend and Art
• The Magdalene Community

Please check them out!

His Popeness, Benedict XVI, has decided in all of his wisdom to refrain from mentioning Mary Magdalene and Martha in a children’s book he published earlier this year called “The Friends of Jesus.” And it’s not because he only wanted to included the canonical 12 disciples; no, he also mentioned Matthais (who replaced Judas after he committed suicide), and –get this– PAUL, who never even met Jesus.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve had Siobhán Houston’s book, “Invoking Mary Magdalene: Accessing the Wisdom of the Divine Feminine” on my bookshelf for quite some time. It is the result of the fact that I’ve fallen off of my own “Magdalene Path,” the central idea of this book, that it sat unread for so long. Perhaps if I’d read it sooner I would have found my way back onto the path before five years had passed, perhaps not. The fact remains that I’ve now read it and it seems to have come at a good time. I’ve yearned to find my way back to the devotions I’d held so dear years ago, and Siobhán Houston’s book is the gentle nudge that I needed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Long gone are the days when Magdalene.org was #1 on Google, but that’s okay. There are some great resources at the top of the heap these days, so I thought it was worth a post to talk a little bit about them. Here are the top 3, in order, as displayed on Google…

Read the rest of this entry »