Gospel of Mary, discovered in 1896. P. Oxyrhynchus L 3525, Papyrology Room, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
For centuries, Mary Magdalene has lived on in Christian tradition as a paradoxical figure — revered as a saint, yet slandered as a prostitute. Her image, shaped more by ecclesiastical politics than by historical fact, has obscured what may be one of the most radical and profound roles in the earliest days of Christianity. Now, through the rediscovery of the Gospel of Mary, we are invited to rethink not only her place in the story of Jesus, but the very contours of the Christian tradition itself.
The Gospel of Mary, discovered in 1896 in a papyrus codex in Egypt, is a fragmented but strikingly rich text that presents Mary not as a marginal figure, but as a central voice among Jesus’ followers. The surviving pages open after Jesus’ death. His disciples, confused and frightened, fear for their lives. It is Mary who steps forward, offering courage and insight. She reminds them that the Son of Man is not gone but lives within them, and calls them to turn inward to find his presence. Her teaching is calm, philosophical, and full of spiritual authority.
But this moment of leadership is quickly challenged. Peter, speaking for the male hierarchy that would later dominate the church, questions Mary’s legitimacy. Why would Jesus speak to a woman and not to the male disciples? The tension escalates until Andrew and Levi intervene to defend her, reminding Peter that if Jesus saw her as worthy, who are they to deny her?
This dispute, on its face, is about who has authority to teach and interpret Jesus’ message. But beneath it lies something deeper: a struggle between competing visions of what the early Christian movement was meant to be. Peter represents a trajectory toward institutional hierarchy, while Mary embodies a model of inner spiritual insight and equality.
Karen L. King’s scholarly work on this gospel brings important nuance to this conflict. She shows that the Gospel of Mary reflects a theology centered on gnosis — inner knowledge — rather than external authority. Salvation is not granted through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, nor through adherence to church doctrine, but through awakening the true self and recognizing the divine image within. Mary emerges not only as a trusted companion of Jesus, but as a teacher of mystical insight, a transmitter of wisdom that others either missed or resisted.
King also notes that the conflict between Mary and Peter echoes wider patterns of exclusion and memory. Women's voices in early Christianity were often sidelined, not necessarily because they lacked authority at the time, but because later communities chose to remember differently. The construction of orthodoxy involved not only which texts to preserve, but which memories to privilege — and whose to silence.
Importantly, the Gospel of Mary does not present a fully developed alternative theology in the same sense as the canonical gospels. It is fragmentary, poetic, and suggestive. But that is precisely its power. It reveals that early Christianity was not a fixed set of doctrines, but a contested, vibrant field of interpretation, where different communities held competing visions of truth, authority, and discipleship.
What we learn from this rediscovered gospel is not only about Mary Magdalene as a historical figure, but about the diversity and richness of early Christianity itself. The push to establish one “true” gospel and one authorized church came at the cost of marginalizing texts like this — texts that speak of personal revelation, equality, and spiritual freedom. Their suppression was not an accident of history, but a deliberate act shaped by political, theological, and gendered concerns.
By revisiting these forgotten texts, we don’t just recover lost voices — we begin to see that the earliest Christians were wrestling with questions that remain alive today: Who has the right to lead? What does spiritual authority look like? And what truths are we missing when we allow only one version of the story to be told?
Mary’s voice, though once nearly erased, calls across the centuries: not to replace one orthodoxy with another, but to remind us of the plurality, struggle, and beauty at the heart of faith’s beginnings.
Further Reading
Karen L. King – The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle
A foundational academic work providing translation, commentary, and theological context.Elaine Pagels – The Gnostic Gospels
A classic exploration of alternative Christian texts and their suppression in early church history.Marvin Meyer (ed.) – The Nag Hammadi Scriptures
A comprehensive collection of Gnostic writings, including related texts like the Gospel of Thomas.Esther A. de Boer – The Gospel of Mary: Listening to the Beloved Disciple
A feminist theological analysis of Mary’s role and authority in the text.Bart D. Ehrman – Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
An accessible look at the many early Christianities that did not survive the formation of orthodoxy.Antti Marjanen – The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents
A scholarly overview of Mary Magdalene’s representation in early Christian literature.Margaret Starbird – The Woman with the Alabaster Jar
A more speculative but popular account of Mary Magdalene’s identity and symbolic power.
Relic of Saint Mary Magdalene in the crypt of the abbey church in Vézelay (France).