The Gospel of Mary — Secret Knowledge Transmitted
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is a fragmentary but remarkable text in which Mary reports the risen Christ's teaching on the soul's ascent through the powers, and defends her authority as his chief disciple.
The Gospel of Mary (Berlin Codex 8502, with fragments in NHC) is one of the few non-canonical gospels attributed to a woman. The surviving text (roughly half is missing) describes a dialogue between Mary and the risen Jesus about the nature of matter and sin; then Mary's report to the other disciples of the secret vision Christ gave her; and finally Peter's challenge to her authority. The soul's ascent vision describes four powers that challenge the ascending soul: Darkness, Desire, Ignorance, and the Kingdom of Flesh (or Wrath). At each power, the soul asserts its freedom from that power's dominion — claiming its divine origin against each attempt to bind it. The text ends with Levi's defense of Mary and the disciples' departure to preach the gospel. The theological content is clearly Gnostic (the soul's ascent through challenging powers, the importance of inner knowledge over external authority), while the narrative frame addresses a clearly historical conflict: the suppression of women's spiritual authority in early Christianity.
Do not weep, and do not be distressed, nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you. But rather, let us praise His greatness.
Scholar Karen King (The Gospel of Mary of Magdala) provides the definitive scholarly introduction to this text, arguing that it represents genuine early Christian diversity regarding women's leadership and the nature of authority — diversity that was suppressed but not eliminated by orthodox canon formation.
Berlin Codex
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- What Gnosticism says about courage
Mary reports a vision and Peter challenges her right to have had one. The courage in the scene is the courage to go on speaking after being told you have no standing to speak.