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Will the Magdalene go mainstream? Controversial as scholarship, author Margaret Starbird's interpretation of Mary Magdalene is gaining popular influence
National Catholic Reporter, Oct 31, 2003 by Ed Conroy
Examples of that story date from as far back as the story of Isis and Osiris to the contemporary film, "Ladyhawke," Starbird said.
For Margaret Starbird, who began her life's pilgrimage as an "orthodox daughter of the church" and is the mother of five children, the journey it took to uncover these pillars of her current faith shook her to the foundations of her personality,
Her account of that journey in The Goddess in the Gospels may strike a chord in many readers concerned for the future of the church.
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Integral to that story is her membership in the Emmanuel community, a grass-roots group of men and women consecrated to pray for the healing and purification of the Roman Catholic church and its priesthood. The group was formed in West Point, N.Y., and Starbird was invited to join as its seventh member in 1977.
It was her involvement in this group, she said, that changed her faith through what she believes was the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
"In our charismatic group, we would open the Bible, and wherever we were we would start reading," she said. "In an early meeting I attended, one of my friends opened to Ezekiel 34. It talks about how the shepherds had been shepherding themselves instead of the sheep. I was horrified at the time and thought 'What is she talking about?' But now, years later, we know exactly what that meant."
It was in the crucible of the Emmanuel community that Starbird received the inspiration and support that eventually resulted in her first book, The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, published by Bear and Company in 1993.
Starbird's views are far from being orthodox theology. Even a progressive Catholic theologian such as Fr. Virgil Elizondo, author of a major re-evaluation of the Virgin of Guadalupe (Guadalupe: Mother of the New Creation), adds a note of caution about a possible marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
"There is no doubt that Mary Magdalene plays a key role in the story of Jesus," Elizondo said from his office at Notre Dame University, where he is a visiting scholar. "She is there at the Crucifixion and at the Resurrection. Beyond that, however, I don't see any hints in the gospel texts to indicate that she and Jesus were married. Obviously, Magdalene played a special role is correct, and that there are things we have not appreciated about her is correct, but all the rest must be speculation. The concept of her having been married to Jesus is certainly not in the traditional teachings of the church."
Amy-Jill Levine, a professor of New Testament studies at Vanderbilt University's divinity school and an Orthodox Jew, said her scholarship does not support the view that Jesus and Mary were married.
"I have no biblical evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was married to Mary Magdalene," she said. "On the contrary, I believe he was celibate. Further, I believe that his message had great appeal to those who were single: Joanna, Susanna, the mother of James and John, the Twelve, Mary and Martha, Lazarus, are all shown apart from a spouse."
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