Re-sharing this piece because it’s Holy Week. I wrote for @BroadviewMag about how early church fathers did Mary Magdalene’s story dirty and how so much of what we think we know about her has been filtered through the male gaze https://broadview.org/mary-magdalene-easter-story/

It’s wild that Mary Magdalene is so central to the Easter story - during the time between when she sees the risen Christ and relates what she saw to the disciples, she’s the entirety of the Christian gospel on earth - but she tends to get so sidelined during our celebration of it

And even though there’s no textual basis for Mary Magdalene being the sinner woman with the alabaster jar - let alone any basis for the idea that the sinner woman’s main sin was lust - modern representations of her still cling to this salacious myth

Also, the seven demons that Jesus cast out of her? They probably weren’t the seven deadly sins like Pope Gregory I said they were, since they didn’t exist as a concept at the time the gospels were written (in fact, it was Gregory himself who compiled the list of seven deadlines)

It’s almost like we’re so terrified of powerful women that we have to straight up make stuff up about them to lessen their power!

Anyway. This piece is basically my You’re Wrong About Mary Magdalene. I worked really hard on it but it wound up coming out at a weird time, so I really appreciate any reads and shares