The Gospel of Mary

What is The Gospel of Mary

The Gospel of Mary(Mary Magdalene) was discovered in 1896(IInn January). It isn't exactly known when the book was written, some estimates surround the late second century while other estimates can date up to the 5th century(Most sources claim 3rd-5th century, however). Since we know this, we can safely conclude Mary didn't write this book even with the earliest possible dating. The Gospel of Mary was discovered in the country Eygpt inside of an Akmin Codex(also called the Berlin Codex). It stayed in private custody until 1955 which leads to some issues due to its credibility. The Gospel was found extremely damaged and was even missing several pieces. Chapter 1 to three, most of chapter 4, and some of chapter 5 are completely missing. Would you trust a book that is missing almost half? If you said yes I would be worried.

 The book consists of Mary and Peter speaking(throughout the short tale some other people briefly speak) after Jesus had died on the cross. At times Mary speaks as if wise beyond her years, in other areas she is weeping uncontrobily. In chapter 5, Mary claims Jesus spoke to her privately and told her many things. As Mary speaks, Peter will claim she is a liar which makes Mary weep because he doesn't believe her. At the end of the story, both Andrew and Peter admit their disbelief in Mary's claims. "But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas. Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things." (The Gospel of Mary[Chapter 9]). 

Works Cited:

Jenkins, Philip. Hidden Gospels:  How the Search for Jesus Lost Its Way.  Oxford University Press, 2001.

King, Karen L. The Gospel of Mary Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge, 2003.

Tuckett, C. (2007). The Gospel of Mary. The Expository Times, 118(8), 365–371. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014524607077865