Peter has the same role in the Gospel of Thomas and in Pistis Sophia. de Boer compares her role in other non-canonical texts, noting that "in the Gospel of Mary it is Peter who is opposed to Mary’s words, because she is a woman. In the Gospel of John, she is recorded as the first witness of Jesus' resurrection ( John 20:14–16) ( Mark 16:9 later manuscripts).Įsther A.
She is mentioned as accompanying Jesus on his journeys ( Luke 8:2) and is listed in the Gospel of Matthew as being present at his crucifixion ( Matthew 27:56). Īrguments in favor of Mary Magdalene are based on her status as a known follower of Jesus, the tradition of being the first witness of his resurrection, and her appearance in other early Christian writings. Silvertsen says that while none of the canonical Gospels identify Jesus' sisters by name ( Mark 6:3, Matthew 13:56), one of his sisters is identified as "Mary" in the Gospel of Philip. Silvertsen alternatively suggests that she may be a sister of Jesus - an individual who has largely been lost in history. Stanley Jones have suggested that she may be Mary the mother of Jesus. Scholars do not always agree which of the New Testament people named Mary is the central character of the Gospel of Mary.
The Gospel of Mary is not present in the list of apocryphal books of section five of the Decretum Gelasianum. Christopher Tuckett's discussion in his 2007 volume notes Pasquier's preference for a date in the second half of the century Tuckett himself ultimately opts for a middle position – he places it in the first half of the Second Century but later than King. King, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, suggested that the gospel was composed early in the Second Century, noting that it evidences familiarity with the Gospel of John, and perhaps the letters of Paul, thus likely postdating 90–100 CE. As the earliest extant fragment of the gospel (the Rylands papyrus) dates to the early Third Century, it must predate this. ĭating the gospel, as with most ancient literary texts, is problematic.
The two fragments were published in 19 respectively, and the Coptic translation was published in 1955 by Walter Till. was in fact found by Grenfell and Hunt some time between 18, but only published in 1983," Two other fragments of the Gospel of Mary have been discovered since, both written in Greek ( Papyrus Oxyrhynchus L 3525 and Papyrus Rylands 463). All four works contained in the manuscript are written in the Sahidic dialect of Coptic. The Berlin Codex, also known as the Akhmim Codex, also contains the Apocryphon of John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, and a summary of the Act of Peter. Early Christian text New Testament apocrypha