I’m excited. I’m thrilled. How thrilled am I? I am veritably bouncing with exuberance over something I just read a little while ago.

The early church father, Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome, penned a commentary on Song of Songs sometime in the 3rd century. For those of us who are unlearned in the German language, it has been very difficult to access the commentary which is available only in Greek or a German translation from the 19th century (Werke des Hippolytus, ed. Bonwetsch, 1897). Incidentally, I don’t have any information about what manuscripts of this work might be extant.

The good news is that today I learned that a doctoral student published a thesis earlier this year containing an English translation of the commentary: Hippolytus’ Commentary on the On the Song of Songs in Social and Critical Context, Yancy Smith. Smith successfully defended the dissertation, and as far as I know it is by now available on ProQuest for anyone with access.

I’ll be off to the UW library sometime in the near future to see if I can get a copy. This is great news for Mary Magdalene research since the commentary contains discussions of a “Mary Martha” figure visiting the tomb of Jesus, during which she is compared her to Eve, and may contain a reference to Magdalene as an apostle. In the 3rd century!

This weekend I learned of a blog called Magdalene’s Egg. Intrigued, I checked it out. It turns out, unfortunately, to have precious little to do with Mary Magdalene. The blogger, who is an evangelical priest, invokes her name as an exemplar of the intersection of sex, religion, and politics, which is insightful but not representative of the content. A blog search on the term “magdalene” returns only a handful of posts. It’s the “sex, religion and politics” part that is the primary focus.

For those who can’t resist such a volitile combination of discussion points, the blog may prove interesting. For those who are looking for more online Magdalene material, this isn’t the place to find it.

(For some reason, this post didn’t go through yesterday…so much for making a feast day post!)

For the first time in many years, I don’t have anything special planned for Magdalene’s feast day. It’s a small miracle in itself that I didn’t have to work today–in favor of tomorrow–so I’ve decided to spend some time with my family.

This is a post I started around Easter with the intention of posting today. Only a couple of items, but still a quaint reminder of some folkloric traditions of Mary Magdalene:

“It is said that roses fade on St. Magdalene’s day.”

Beals, Katharine M. “Flower Lore and Legend.” Henry Holt & Co., 1917, pg. 121.

“The following charm was said to be very potent: On the eve of St.
Magdalene three maidens all under twenty-one must be gathered in the bed
chamber of one of the number and together must prepare a mixture of
wine, vinegar, and water in a ground glass vessel. Each maid must take
three sips of the liquid, into which she must dip a spray of rosemary to
be placed in her bosom. They must then all go silently to sleep in the
same bed. One spoken word will break the charm. If the conditions were
carefully complied with the dream of each, it was said, would reveal her
fate.”

ibid., p 237.

Best wishes to all on this Magdalene’s feast day!

From The Australian:

Righting wrongs about Mary
by Jill Rowbotham

Focusing on the opinion of one Elizabeth Fletcher, author of a book and website about women in the Bible, Rowbotham emphasizes Mary Magdalene’s Gospel importance and makes a few arguments against the DVC perspective, including:

The chief reason to believe Mary did not have a sexual relationship with Jesus was that his enemies never accused him of sexual misbehaviour.

After his death they accused him of illegitimacy, regarded as scandalous for a religious teacher, and of being “too fond of eating and drinking, especially with the wrong kind of people”.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but if Jesus was actually married to Mary Magdalene, he wouldn’t be accused of sexual misbehavior either. The above represents a rather weak argument, in my opinion. Still, it’s interesting to see the creativity being exercised in addressing this question.

I was happy to see the following article at Everything Alabama this morning (from The Birmingham News):

Jungian realizes pull of `Da Vinci’
by Kathy Kemp

Birmingham resident, Nancy Qualls-Corbett, is a Jungian psychologist whose perspective on ideas of masculine and feminine principles/qualities I find deeply interesting. Author of The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine, it seems to me that Qualls-Corbett has come the closest to putting her finger on why Margaret Starbird’s “sacred union” mythology has struck a nerve in our society. From the article:

She’s particularly interested in Mary Magdalene’s role in the story and the world’s increasing fascination with her. “My speculation is that people are seeing the need for balance in the world, and that would be the feminine side – of relating to each other, of appreciating the arts as well as science.”

A vast simplification, but very in line with my thinking as well.

Dr. Qualls-Corbett is giving a lecture in Birmingham on Friday; details are in the article.

In the article that follows, found at the CatholicHerald.com, we see a member of Catholic clergy defending Mary Magdalene’s traditional reputation as a sinner. This is interesting to me since it seems that the choices on this issue are:

1. Disregard the tradition entirely
2. Embrace the tradition and defend it

Embracing the tradition simply because it is tradition, without defending its historical likelihood, doesn’t appear to be an option.

Here is the article:

Straight Answers: Myths, Truths about Mary Magdalene
by Fr. William P. Saunders

Not a word uttered about the fact that Rome has distanced itself from the tradition. After concluding his defense of the sinner reputation by agreeing with Pope Gregory the Great, Fr. Saunders goes on to say (emphasis is mine):

As far as The Da Vinci Code is concerned, what one cannot construe is some of the misconceptions they erroneously present: for instance, that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus, the mother of Jesus’ child, a participant at the Last Supper, His prophetic successor, and a priestess. Such conclusions, despite the best efforts of pseudo scholars, have no foundation in sacred Scripture, sacred tradition, other historical resources or even heretical texts.

I find this amusing for some reason, even though he is clearly echoing the most commonly cited reasons for Mary Magdalene’s conflation with the other women. Maybe because one tradition is being overwritten by another for which there is about just as much evidence.

I just received these two items yesterday, but haven’t yet had a chance to review them:

Invoking Mary Magdalene: Accessing the Wisdom of the Divine Feminine
by Siobhan Houston

Magdalene Unveiled: The Ancient and Modern Sacred Prostitute
Directed by Sarah Sher and Kenneth Ray Stubbs

From DelawareOnline:

‘Code’ has women tapping into faith
By Gary Soulsman
The News Journal
05/19/2006

In response to the DVC movie, a local parish in Delaware has taken the opportunity as a so-called “teachable moment” rather than boycotting the film. Journalist Soulsman takes the opportunity to lightly address some questions of alienation that women feel toward Christianity and points toward Mary Magdalene–both in her Gospel role and her legendary roles–as an inspiration for empowerment.

“The Da Vinci Code” deepened Melissa Cox’s appreciation of Mary Magdalene as an apostle of Jesus.

Now that the best-selling novel is a film, the 23-year-old Newark woman plans to see it tonight with friends, hoping the film continues to fuel her passion for one of Christianity’s most debated figures.

“I see Mary Magdalene as a woman living in a patriarchal world, and standing up in the face of all those who hated her because she was a woman with her passion to live a spiritual life,” Cox said. “I am really happy that she’s being rediscovered for the amazingly powerful person she was.”

There are a couple of quotes from my interview with Mr. Soulsman in the article, and a good little sidebar about Mary Magdalene that he put together, citing me as a resource. I always appreciate good links.

Jordan Stratford, a Gnostic priest in the Apostolic Johannite Church, who leads a congregation up in Victoria, B.C. and who also happens to be an acquaintance of several years, has written a book called The Da Vinci Prayerbook. I think the title is actually a little misleading, given that its contents are far more luminous than DVC, but I understand the audience he would like to reach with this information. His volume is a collection of source material and inspirational writings that illuminate the modern reawakening to Gnostic traditions.

Although I was negilent in my failure to post his press-release (which you can read at Fr. Jordan’s blog here), I recommend the book for anyone curious about modern Gnostic outlook, particularly as it relates to interpreting Mary Magdalene as the bride of Jesus in a metaphorical manner.

Finally, the article, which turned up in the Victoria News:

Gnostic priest addresses Da Vinci Code controversy
By Mark Browne

“Gnosticism does not rely on historical literalism in the same way that Christianity does,” Stratford explained. “Let’s ask the bigger question about what this stuff means.”

The idea that Jesus married Mary Magdalene can be understood as myth that conveys the “marriage” between Christian tradition and the older religions of the divine feminine, he said. Moreover, that marriage can be interpreted as a balance between the masculine and the feminine.

“Gnosticism teaches that Mary Magdalene is an expression of the myth of Sophia, the goddess of wisdom and of the holy spirit.”

My very best wishes to Jordan, both on the publication of his book and his recent wedding!

This is an article I found this morning in the Pocono Record, which appears to be a smallish Pennsylvania periodical:

Theologian: Clergy need to learn why ‘Da Vinci’ resonates
by Helen Yanulus

A professor in the Theology/Religious Studies department of the Jesuit school, University of Scranton , Eric Plumer, is apparently working on a book called The Da Vinci Phenomenon: Why the Religious Claims Made in ‘The Da Vinci Code’ Have Struck Such a Chord in America. A rather unweildy title, but my heart sings with the knowledge that an institutional scholar is taking the reaction to DVC seriously in potentially positive ways. He echoes my own sentiment on the phenomenon in some ways:

Eric Plumer…noted that Brown’s religious thriller is “selling like hotcakes” because an element of the book — which was adapted for the big screen and made its debut last weekend — has resonated with readers.

That interest swirls around the role of Mary Magdalene.

Plumer’s belief is that Mary Magdalene’s mistaken reputation as a harlot is behind the resonance as people realize how her faulty identity and the devaluing of women throughout Christian history has damaged the appreciation of the feminine in Western culture. I believe that the appeal of the book goes beyond this into an extra-Christian interest in the “sacred feminine,” but we’re going in the right direction here.

Although Plumer obviously believes that Jesus was celibate, he goes on to reflect on issues of sexuality and the acceptance of women in Jesus’ ministry:

“Many people like the idea that Jesus was more human and capable of understanding love between a man and a woman, although Brown got his facts wrong,” Plumer said. “Jesus was celibate, but that doesn’t mean he had no sexual feelings, or he wouldn’t be human.”

Plumer noted that thoughts of sexuality were at one time regarded as degrading, impure and disgusting. But Jesus didn’t have that fear of women or sexuality.

“It’s not Dan Brown’s fault that the novel is so popular. Churches have to ask themselves, ‘What aren’t we doing?’” Plumer said.

“I think people sense that women were left out. That wasn’t the attitude of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ attitude towards women isn’t fully reflected in the church.”

Well, thank you, Professor Plumer. Although I think there is more to the resonance with DVC than what has been covered in this article, I applaud you for initiating this dialogue from within academia.