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The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity, by Cynthia Bourgeault
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Mary Magdalene is one of the most influential symbols in the history of Christianity—yet, if you look in the Bible, you’ll find only a handful of verses that speak of her. How did she become such a compelling saint in the face of such paltry evidence? In her effort to answer that question, Cynthia Bourgeault examines the Bible, church tradition, art, legend, and newly discovered texts to see what’s there. She then applies her own reasoning and intuition, informed by the wisdom of the ages-old Christian contemplative tradition. What emerges is a radical view of Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s most important disciple, the one he considered to understand his teaching best. That teaching was characterized by a nondualistic approach to the world and by a deep understanding of the value of the feminine. Cynthia shows how an understanding of Mary Magdalene can revitalize contemporary Christianity, how Christians and others can, through her, find their way to Jesus’s original teachings and apply them to their modern lives.
- Sales Rank: #151291 in eBooks
- Published on: 2011-07-22
- Released on: 2011-07-22
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
“A spiritual masterpiece, and by far the wisest and most profound book ever written on Mary Magdalene.”—Andrew Harvey, author of Son of Man and Hope: A Guide to Sacred Action
“A remarkable invitation into the origins and wisdom of Christianity, through the apostolic witness of Mary Magdalene. Expect a challenge, perhaps more than you ’re ready for. This book should change something, as it invites you to deepen your capacity for love, through the witness of Jesus ’s beloved disciple.”—The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schiori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
“It takes courage, intelligence, maturity, but mostly Christian intuitive wisdom to write a book such as this. Cynthia Bourgeault succeeds grandly!”—Richard Rohr, OFM, author of The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See
“Pastor, scholar, mystic . . . Cynthia Bourgeault is all of these, but never before has she combined them so compellingly and persuasively, and—dare one say it?—so efficaciously as here in this work that lives so close to the center of her own being.”—Phillis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why
“Bourgeault masterfully takes the best of tradition, history, and recent scholarship, sums it up with clarity, and then respectfully and artfully flings open new doors of insight, wisdom, and possibility. She offers completely unique and stirring insights about Mary Magdalene.”—Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction
“This is not simply another book on Mary Magdalene along the lines of Dan Brown or the Holy Blood/Holy Grail authors. Yes, Cynthia Bourgeault, an Episcopal priest, is making an argument about the relationship between Magdalene and Jesus, an argument that is certainly controversial, and in lesser hands has been badly distorted. However, Bourgeault does it in a way that is grounded both spiritually and academically.”—Parabola
About the Author
Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD, is an Episcopal priest, teacher, and retreat and conference leader. She is the author of several books, including Chanting the Psalms and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening.
Most helpful customer reviews
66 of 68 people found the following review helpful.
The Meaning of Mary Magdalene
By Sherry M. Peyton
First let me start out by saying, that this was not quite what I expected. I assumed it would be a scholarly biography of one of Christianity's most enigmatic women. It certainly is that. But I expected it to be along the lines of a general work using the accepted tools of hermeneutics in examining the texts of the Gospel accounts of the New Testament.
That it was not quite, though it certainly examined all the pertinent texts thoroughly. However, much of Cynthia Bourgeault's work delves into the so-called "Gnostic Gospels" of Mary, Thomas, Peter and Philip. These were more or less known to the powers that decided the canon, but were omitted largely because they spoke of a more transcendent and ephemeral Jesus and his teachings. They were "gnostic" and heretical, having lost the battle to the growing "orthodoxy" of the Roman Church.
Rev. Bourgeault crafts with great care and precision her hypothesis that Jesus and Mary were "soul mates," certainly lovers, although she doesn't claim they were physical lovers, although she finds no reason why they may not have been.
She finds in Jesus a Nazarite, much like John the Baptist, but one who gave up the ascetic life, the life of denial, to move to the path of "singleness" where kenotic love became the center of his being. This self-giving or self-emptying attitude was one that he taught Mary and it is what allowed them to transcend his death on the cross. Their unitive love, whether physical or celibate, enabled them to reach the fullness of being human. It is this towards what his teachings point.
It is this message that Jesus sought to teach his disciples. It is what Mary learned, making her the foremost of all the disciples.
It is Bourgeault's contention that the Gospel of John in the canon is perhaps the most clear about understanding Jesus truest teaching. She argues that the Mary of Bethany is in fact Mary Magdalene, or at least created to expouse upon some of her qualities. She would claim that many of the Marys in the Gospel accounts, or I should say many of the women (the woman at the well for instance) are also created composites of Magdalene qualities.
The reason why the Magdalene is so "hidden" in this way is simply because it became increasingly impossible for a patriarchial and male dominated church to accept that a woman had been the closed companion of Christ. It was unseemly to a church that slowly but surely hide sex behind a heavy door, and made chastity the only possible "pure" expression of "the Way."
If you have ever read the gnostics, as I have, you undoubtedly were quite puzzled. They read more like Eastern mystical works. We are unfamiliar with the words and their meanings.
Cynthia Bourgeault, with patience and deep care, unravels the intracacies of these passages, explaining their meaning, joining them to the Semitic eastern mysticism of the time of Jesus. She has devoted more than forty years to Mary, and has traveled to parts of France where there is a very old tradition of the Magdalene's later years there and the mystical veils that surround her.
It will, no doubt be hard for a first time reader, to digest all this "new thinking" about this mysterious woman that we know so little about, yet are still so utterly fascinated with. Bourgeault is both Episcopal priest and part-time hermit. She has studied with many who have lived their lives in these traditions of mysticism. So, her claims are not to be dismissed easily, yet, they remain, reasonable conclusions based on often quite slim evidence.
Even if you are not prepared to "buy" all the conclusions, you will I promise you come away with a vision of both Mary and Jesus that are profoundly different than before. As never before, they become fully human to us, who so desperately need human models to emulate. Bourgeault brings the scriptures alive, and quite frankly, through her interpretation, once difficult or puzzling passages suddenly ring with clarity.
All the Gospels recall Mary as the first to receive the "good news" of the resurrection. Her voice, since stifled, was so powerful to the infant church that this truth could not be denied. Although each writer in some way minimized her importance, she could not be denied her place in the narratives. It is she, Bourgeault contends, who was the source of the "annointing" ministry that she may well have shared with Jesus, and which comes down to us today as a sacrament.
What I came away with, is a deeper appreciation of Mary Magdalene. I have for some time considered her to be an ignored apostle, but I believe now she was much more than that. She was the only one who truly "got it." As such, she does so much for us as women in the church. She restores us to our rightful place, as integral to the church. She gives us something that a virgin mother never can. She gives us a model of real humanness, fully expressed, fully embodied.
I can't wait to read more of Bourgeault's work. I believe she has much to teach me about my journey. After reading this book, I believe you will feel the same way.
66 of 70 people found the following review helpful.
Best Book Ever about Love
By Turner Bourne, MS, LPE, LPC, LMT, RMT
I haven't read a book that has influenced my understanding of love as much as this one since Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled" in about 1980. Bourgeault's approach is elegant in the way an advanced mathematical answer can be. She is extraordinarily qualified to say what she says, and I learned a great deal from this book. Conversational in tone, Bourgeault's newest book is deeply, deeply spiritual, as are her well considered conclusions. ALERT: My unconscious mind evacuated for about a week after I read it, and then it took me about another week to re-organize my new realizations. I recommend you buy it today, but give yourself some space to consider what you have read when you are finished. What a blessing it has been to me. My life is richer because of this book.
96 of 103 people found the following review helpful.
Cynthia and Mary: trustworthy guides
By William F. Edwards
I am a middle aged male from the Roman Catholic tradition and Cynthia Bourgeault is my spiritual guide. She does not know this as we have never met. I have read her book on Centering Prayer (8 times), The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Wisdom Jesus (5 times), Mystical Hope, Love is stronger than Death, and now Mary Magdalene. I mention these other works because this might be a reasonable order for approaching her work. She may occasionally be a little off the mark but I always have a deep sense that she is leading me in the right direction. I never get the sense that she has an agenda but that she is following her heart in union with God. I now feel an inner certainty that Mary Magdalene was the first to realize that Jesus continued to live after his death. Then she got Peter on board and the rest is history. I could not stop reading this book and I will soon be reading it again.
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