3 ms·
There are at least five different Mary's in the Gospels. She was not the prostitute, but the prostitute was also a Mary. It is, as you say, a misogynist way to
by jfengel 2y ago
There are at least five different Mary's in the Gospels. She was not the prostitute, but the prostitute was also a Mary.
It is, as you say, a misogynist way to dismiss the many women who were important during Jesus' ministry and during the founding of the early gentile Churches. But the book sure doesn't make it easy to keep em straight.
- shampto3 2y agoThere is no prostitute called Mary in the Gospels. There was a conflation of three women: - Mary Magdalene who had 7 devils cast out of her - Mary of Bethany who anointed Christ with oil close to his crucifixion - Unnamed woman who anointed Christ with oil and tears in the home of Simon Not only are these three woman separate and distinct, none of them are even explicitly called out as prostitutes. So they both conflated their stories and assumed what the sin was. Other Marys in the Gospels: - Mary the mother of Christ - Mary the mother of James - Mary of Clopas
- o11c 2y agoAnd if anyone is like me and thinking "wait, there are more Marys than that", the above comment specifies "in the gospels". Mary mother of [John] Mark is in Acts, and Mary of Rome is in Romans. It's generally assumed that "the other Mary" is one of the many above. It is widely, but not universally, assumed that the two "Mary and Martha" stories refer to the same people. Some traditions say that Salome was yet another Mary, but this seems poorly founded.
- amanaplanacanal 2y agoHow do we know those are the different women though?
- watwut 2y agoBy reading with comprehension.
- amanaplanacanal 2y agoNot a helpful response. There are scholars that argue that Mary Magdalen and Mary of Bethany are the same person, which was the impetus for my question.
- shampto3 2y agoWe of course can't know for sure, but I personally err on the side of caution and keep these women as separate individuals. The stories are distinct enough that in my opinion they should be considered unique events and different people.
- Spooky23 2y agoPoole Gregory gave an influential sermon that conflated several women featured in the Bible incorrectly. That carried on for a millennia for various reasons.
- milesrout 2y agoHow is it misogynistic for more than one woman to have the same name? They aren't made up characters that people decided to all call Mary in some fit of misogyny.
- shadowgovt 2y agoGiven that the books were written at least 40 years after the described events, how do we know they aren't made-up characters (or pastiches of real individuals)? Perhaps 'Mary' was a stand-in name for "Woman nobody thought to write down the name of," like "Karen" is a stand-in name today.
- etse 2y agoInteresting idea, but questionable scholarship.