Theos-Talk Archives (July 1998 Message tt00005)

While at the ARE Congress I purchased a book which relates to
Kym's concerns about men "freaking out" when women "pull up a
chair and get comfy."  It's called The Complete Gospels and
includes 16 in addition to the canonical four.  One I hadn't seen
before is the Gospel of Mary.  It's fragmentary, about half
missing, but what survives gives an intriguing glimpse of sexual
politics in the early church.  In this version, Mary Magdalene
is the disciple chosen to receive the continuing guidance from
Jesus in dreams and visions, but is subjected to power trips from
Peter and his supporters.  The end is missing.  But this shows
that there were struggles about the status of women from the
beginning.  Where Jesus stood on the matter remains unknown, and
I wouldn't be too sure that Buddha said the ugly thing attributed
to him either.