Clay Pigeon
Gold Meritorious Patron
There are a few conflicting historian theories about Mary Magdeline. The prostitute theory assumed this Mary was the same as the one Jesus saved from getting stoned to death, but Mary was a common name and there was no evidence that this Mary was the same woman.
The theory I like best is that Mary was a rich widow, so educated and a bit older, also someone known and respected in the community. The apostles accepted her and did not seem jealous. She was included in all the group theological discussions, which would have been forbidden in Judaism. I’m fascinated that the Catholic Church would remove heretical references to past lives, yet keep the heretical, equal treatment of Mary in the New Testament.
Paul, a Roman and the first church leader, immediately took it upon himself to make rules to segregate women and ban them from the priesthood. His Letters to the Corinthians spelled out all sorts of rules to make the church as patriarchal as possible. Women had to cover their heads in church, be subservient to their husbands, could not serve as priests or at the altar, etc.
Yet the gospel references to Jesus’ fair and equal treatment of Mary with the male apostles remained, with no reference to marriage. That’s odd and controversial enough to support that Jesus actually existed.
One might consider such as this when reading of the character Mary in "Mission Earth"