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Did you know Mary Magdalane wasn't a prostitute?

dorsk188

One-Eyed in Blindsville
I'm sure many of you know this, but I recently learned that there is nowhere in the Bible where Mary is actually protrayed or referred to as a prostitute. That's all. Now, to watch this thread slowly sink, like a B-Movie actor into quicksand... Second page, here I come!
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
dorsk188 said:
I'm sure many of you know this, but I recently learned that there is nowhere in the Bible where Mary is actually protrayed or referred to as a prostitute. That's all. Now, to watch this thread slowly sink, like a B-Movie actor into quicksand... Second page, here I come!
Never thought she was.
As she is a Saint, and to some the First appostle, her origional background does not matter. any more than ours does in Gods Eyes.

Terry
_________________________________________
Blessed are the pure of heart, they shall behold their God.
 

Halcyon

Lord of the Badgers
Hmmm, Mary was the most beloved apostle of Jesus. I imagine the whole prostitute idea originated with men who couldn't accept a female apostle, and so made up a story that would lower her standing in the eyes of the Christian community.
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: There's a movement under way among many Catholic women and women scholars to revise the reputation of Mary Magdalene. For centuries, she was reviled as a prostitute. But now, the discovery of ancient texts -- and several recent movies and novels -- are portraying her as an important figure in early church history. And that, as Mary Alice Williams reports, is giving hope to all those who want a more important place for women in today's church, too.
From:- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week712/feature.html:)
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Halcyon said:
Hmmm, Mary was the most beloved apostle of Jesus.
I've never understood how people can speak with so much authority and so much certainty based on so little substantiation.
 
Mary was no way a prostitue. She is surely the most revered woman the earth has ever had. People at that time accused her of being one, but that was not for long. Soon after, to their surpise, Jesus(yet an infant) spoke to the people claiming he was sent by God. Obviously they took back their false claims and accepted Mary's chastity.
Please think, read your scriptures thorougly (Quran is still in purest form) and then post a question here.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
samgeorge11 said:
Mary was no way a prostitue. She is surely the most revered woman the earth has ever had. People at that time accused her of being one, but that was not for long. Soon after, to their surpise, Jesus(yet an infant) spoke to the people claiming he was sent by God. Obviously they took back their false claims and accepted Mary's chastity.
Please think, read your scriptures thorougly (Quran is still in purest form) and then post a question here.
I think you are confusing your Marys, not Mary Mother of Christ but Mary Magdelene the Appostle.

Terry
__________________________________________
Blessed are those who bring peace, they shall be children of God
 

Halcyon

Lord of the Badgers
Deut. 32.8 said:
I've never understood how people can speak with so much authority and so much certainty based on so little substantiation.
It's called believing what you read. Not being Discordian, i sometimes tend to believe some of the things i read, as i am sure you do too Deut.

If the saviour made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely the saviour knows her very well. That is why he loved her more than us.
Part of a conversation between Levi and Peter, concerning Mary - from the Gospel of Mary.
Not that you care of course.
 

EnhancedSpirit

High Priestess
She was not a prostitute. Jesus relieved her of her demons. She annointed his feet with Spiknard, and when she was criticized for being wasteful, Jesus said that she had done so in preparation for his burial. I do not think a mere prostitute would have had this responsiblity.

During the crucifixion, she stood with Mary the mother of Jesus and Jesus' aunt. I do not believe a mere prostitute would have been allowed to sit with the family at such a time, that would have been inappropriate. And why would Jesus appear to her first, if she were not his 'beloved'?
 

James the Persian

Dreptcredincios Crestin
I knew St. Mary Magdalene wasn't a prostitute. We Orthodox have never accepted this idea which was first proposed by Pope St. Gregory the Great when he conflated the Magdalene and the 'sinful woman'. Apparently this is due to the town she came from having had something of a reputation for such activities, sort of like Amsterdam today. Our Holy Tradition has never said she was a prostitute but she is considered equal to the Apostles and is believed to have preached with St. John at Ephesus. She is not and has never been seen as less than the Apostles (she's in fact often entitled the Apostle to the Apostles in our tradition) and so St. Gregory's mistake of portraying her as a prostitute was almost certainly not to denigrate her, but rather a genuine error. It may even be that he was trying to glorify God by showing what great things He can do with even the worst sinners, much like is evident in the lives of St. Mary of Egypt or St. Moses the Ethiopian. Why are people always so eager to attribute disreputable motives to Christian theologians?

James
 

Halcyon

Lord of the Badgers
Deut. 32.8 said:
No, it's called certainty without evidence.
I gave you the evidence upon which i based my belief. Sorry i haven't got an exact description of their relationship written by Jesus himself - you've got to work with what you've got.

No-one knows for sure that Jesus came from Nazareth, all the evidence we have is anecdotal accounts in a 2000 year old book. Still, many people are certain he did.

Anyway, what makes you so certain there is no evidence?
Remember though, you can't justify any answer you give with what you've read in a book - because believing what you read is certainty without evidence.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Halcyon said:
No-one knows for sure that Jesus came from Nazareth, all the evidence we have is anecdotal accounts in a 2000 year old book. Still, many people are certain he did.
Many people were certain that the Tortah was authored by Moses.
Many people were certain that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.
Many people were certain that the Pericope De Adultera was authentic.
Many people were certain that the Pastorals were written by Paul.

People claim certainty about all manner of things from Moses being a Pharoah to Jesus traipsing around India. You have two Greek fragments and a Coptic translation of a Gnostic piece typically dated to the 2nd century CE. You may like it. You may even believe it. But is remains unclear to me how you could claim certainty based on so little.

By the way, you wrote ...
Part of a conversation between Levi and Peter, concerning Mary - from the Gospel of Mary. Not that you care of course.
It was a petty and worthless ad hominem. I have a great deal of respect for evidence and have expended considerable mental and financial resources in an effort to access and understand whatever evidence suggests itself as relevant.
 

Prima

Well-Known Member
Well, no one can know for sure, but it's certain that her reputation was, at the very least, lowered by the Church unnecessarily.

Interestingly, Jesus's preaching was also financed by wealthy widows :D
 
The person that could have been the Prostitute was the woman of Nain spoken of in Luke. As matter of fact the verses never mention her name or label her as a prostitute.

[Lu 7:37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

Lu 7:38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.]

[Lu 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Lu 7:45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
Lu 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Lu 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
Lu 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.]

Mary Magdalene is not mentioned until the next chapter. It says that Jesus went throughout every city and village preaching and that his disciples along with certain WOMEN which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities were with him. The verses says that seven devils went out of Mary Magdalene and then mentions that Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod?s steward, Susanna and many others ministered unto him.

Pope Gregory is the one that declared that she was a Prostitute only to discredit her as a woman. She was the first person that Jesus appeared to after his alleged resurrection and he also, according to the Gospel?s gave her the message to have the disciples assemble in the upper room. In the 1990?s Pope John Pope apologize for the Catholic Church and released a statement the said that Mary Magdalene definitely wasn?t a Prostitute.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
Deut. 32.8 said:
Many people were certain that the Tortah was authored by Moses.
Many people were certain that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.
Many people were certain that the Pericope De Adultera was authentic.
Many people were certain that the Pastorals were written by Paul.

People claim certainty about all manner of things from Moses being a Pharoah to Jesus traipsing around India. You have two Greek fragments and a Coptic translation of a Gnostic piece typically dated to the 2nd century CE. You may like it. You may even believe it. But is remains unclear to me how you could claim certainty based on so little.

By the way, you wrote ...
Part of a conversation between Levi and Peter, concerning Mary - from the Gospel of Mary. Not that you care of course.
It was a petty and worthless ad hominem. I have a great deal of respect for evidence and have expended considerable mental and financial resources in an effort to access and understand whatever evidence suggests itself as relevant.
I have noticed with interest that you only believe evidence you supply yourself or from people that agree with you.
Gets boring after a time.

Terry
____________________________________
Blessed are the gentle, they shall inherit the land
 

john313

warrior-poet
dorsk188 said:
I'm sure many of you know this, but I recently learned that there is nowhere in the Bible where Mary is actually protrayed or referred to as a prostitute. That's all. Now, to watch this thread slowly sink, like a B-Movie actor into quicksand... Second page, here I come!
the church i went to as a youth taught that she was a prostitute, but i was aware she was not.
 
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