Loading...Did Jesus and Mary Magdalene have an affair?
Now that I’ve mentioned the Gospel of Philip, I can’t help but repost a blog from a few years ago, dealing with one of the most intriguing, not to say titillating, passages from this otherwise somewhat obscure Valentinian Gospel.
My original post on the topic was in a thread that was discussing whether Jesus was celibate or not, and I argued that the modern idea that he and Mary were intimately involved is … a modern idea (without any foundation other than wild imagination and wishful thinking )
A number of readers responded to my post by pointing out that the non-canonical Gospel of Philip sure does seem to *say* they were intimate! So, what do I have to say about that?
I have a reasonably full discussion of the relevant issues in my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene. In the book I put the discussion in the context of – yes, you guessed it — Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, the one source many people turn to for the Gospel of Philip (!). Few people who talk about the relevant passage have actually read the Gospel itself. It strikes many readers today as unusually strange. But in any event, this is what I say about the book and the Kissing Passage there. (I also say a few things about the Gospel of Philip in general, and repeat them here since, well, repetition is good pedagogy!)
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I’m glad Bart takes time to address popular notions. Those of us who’ve read — or have tried to read — the Gospel of Philip but haven’t read The Da Vinci Code or any of the lore it has spawned often don’t know what to say when we hear these claims in casual settings. It’s really helpful to be somewhat prepared. -dg
In What Jesus Learned from Women I explore the possibility that Mary Magdalene, one of the sponsors of the Jesus movement according to Luke, was significantly older than Jesus and a friend and mentor, one to whom he probably related as one would to a beloved and wise aunt. I obviously don’t suggest that we can be certain of that. It seemed worth exploring not least because the main alternatives that interpreters tend to offer are Mary the former prostitute and Mary the wife of Jesus, both of which slot Mary into traditional patriarchal gender roles in ways that fit awkwardly with the evidence.
That said, I’m aware that koinonos, like “partner” in English, can have overtones of a romantic or sexual relationship. I’ve long wanted to do a computer-assisted search and study in Greek literature of whether we have instances of the term being used for a platonic connection between a man and a woman. Whatever the result, it would be interesting and informative.
Hi! I have been reading your book. I’m enjoying the different ways of looking at what influenced Yeshua as a human man. I would love to read what you learn about koinonos. I’ve often felt Mary should have been an apostle and as such open doors for women to be in church leadership, especially if she did know the teachings the best. If so, we’ve all lost so very much.
If the religion “of” the historical Jesus was that of a faithful Jew, albeit an apocalyptic Jew with a “flexible” approach to the Jewish Law, wouldn’t it make sense for people who are inspired by the historical Jesus (and are theists) to convert to some form of Judaism?
I’m not suggesting that the historical Jesus has any kind of central place in any of the various forms of Judaism, current or historical. I’m just saying that one logical way of following Jesus is to follow the same religion he did. In support of that I’d say that both Judaism and Jesus emphasize ethics more than Christianity does given its emphasis on faith and salvation and heaven.
Yes, that’s what the original followrs of Jesus thought after his death — probably up until the time Paul converted and, for most of them, long after that.
There’s a second passage from Philip that pairs with this one in my mind. It reads:
“All who are begotten in the world are begotten in a natural way, and the others are nourished from the place whence they have been born. It is from being promised to the heavenly place that man receives nourishment. […] him from the mouth. And had the word gone out from that place, it would be nourished from the mouth and it would become perfect. For it is by a kiss that the perfect conceive and give birth. For this reason we also kiss one another. We receive conception from the grace which is in one another.”
This sounds to me as if “kiss” is a way that the “perfect” impart life to the imperfect. That is the words of the lips of an enlightened teacher have the effect of transforming a spiritually dead person into a spiritually living person. If this is right, then “kiss” is not the physical act as much as it is a metaphor for the imparting of gnosis. Could the conversations of Jesus and Mary have been full of such kisses?
Yup, I believe I talk about that passage in my book on the Da Vinci Code. If you are asking about the historical Jesus and MM, I’d say no, that’s highly implausible. Mary is mentioned only one time in connection with Jesus’ ministry in the entire NT, in passing, along with a groip of other women, two of them named. Nothing suggests she and jesus in particular were close.
Is it not likely that nothing in the Gospel of Phillip is historically accurate? In other words, the events in this gospel did not happen?
I don’t think the book contains any independent informatoin about what was happening in Jesus’ lifetime (if that’s what you’re asking)
I was referring to this passage:
And the companion of the {{gap in the manuscript}} Mary Magdalene. {{gap in the manuscript}} her more than {{gap}} the disciples {{gap}} kiss her {{gap}} on her {{gap in the manuscript!}}.
Is it correct that the author likely did not have any way of knowing if this even occurred and he likely made it up or heard it from someone who made it up?
Yes, that’s almost certainly the case.
I really liked Barbara Hershey’s Mary Magdalene in Scorsese’s The Last Temptation Of Christ.
Two thumbs up!
The best Mary Magdalene ever!
oddly living in Shanghai: I had great appetite to watch Hollywood or western movies/documentaries of biblical or pseudo-fiction, as I felt part of that. Last I saw was Davinci Code series & an older man who played Jesus, that movie & his visit to Israel.
Other than from PBS’s Jesus-Christ “frontline”, lying on the wrong Pacific Coast, I have no desire or will to watch 2 or 3 significant movies. Probably because Religious Right leaders are unable to be faithful to their spouting.
Thank U Dr Ehrman!!
Could you elaborate on whether or not this symbolic language is unique to Gnostic writings or more widely used in early Christian literature?
The idea that a kiss was the sharing of the Spirit was held by others as well. The church fathers stressed that it should be a “holy” kiss, and sometimes laid down the appropriate rules….
Thanks for enlightening me Bart!