Mary Magdalen

[Ciscokid]

From what I understand Jesus held Mary is such high regard...she may have even been his closest disciple. If this is so, why is she so ignored in the church?

I was raised in the Christian church my whole life and hardly ever heard about her. Why didn't any of her writings make it into the Bible?

 

[FatMan]

From what I understand Jesus held Mary is such high regard...she may have even been his closest disciple. If this is so, why is she so ignored in the church?

I was raised in the Christian church my whole life and hardly ever heard about her. Why didn't any of her writings make it into the Bible?

It's that damn sexism stuff

 

[angellous_evangellous]

From what I understand Jesus held Mary is such high regard...she may have even been his closest disciple. If this is so, why is she so ignored in the church?

I was raised in the Christian church my whole life and hardly ever heard about her. Why didn't any of her writings make it into the Bible?

She most likely didn't write anything. The literacy rate for poor women in the first century was pretty low. Only 10% of the population could read, and that was some elite males and some slaves. (see Harris, Ancient Literacy). The only evidence that we have of women writing in ancient times is a few disputed artworks, a few letters from the families of Roman emperors and senators, and a few non-documentary papyrii - and all of it is disputed.

I do think that there are early Christian shrines in her honor...

 

[James the Persian]

From what I understand Jesus held Mary is such high regard...she may have even been his closest disciple. If this is so, why is she so ignored in the church?

She isn't. She's been rather ignored by western churches ever since she was confused with the unnamed sinful woman (an error on the part of Pope St. Gregory the Great that luckily never made it eastwards) but she is one of the most important saints in our tradition, is known to have been a great preacher, preching in Ephesus and, according to Tradition, even to the Emperor. She is known as the Apostle to the Apostles for her taking the news of the Resurrection to the Apostles. I think it's fairly safe to say that there is no female saint held in higher regard in the east apart from the Theotokos (the virgin Mary).

I was raised in the Christian church my whole life and hardly ever heard about her.

Unsurprising if your church was a western one, particularly if it was Protestant rather than RC. You hear little about any saints outside of the Twelve in such churches.

Why didn't any of her writings make it into the Bible?

Quite simply because she is not known to have written anything at all. All the Gnostic texts that are associated with her are much later in origin and were rejected as spurious very early on in the history of the Church.

James