After Jesus’ departure from this world, the apostles carried on proclaiming the Gospel and fulfilled various functions of leadership in the earliest churches. Needless to say, early Christian texts are preoccupied with this apostolic authority, and traced their specific doctrines back to specific disciples and apostles of Jesus. In various non-canonical early Christian texts, Mary Magdalene is propagated as possessing this apostolic authority. She is often presented as someone who surpasses the other disciples in spiritual maturity, the one whom Jesus loves the most, the one with whom He shares a special connection, and the one to whom He entrusts the secrets of the cosmos. This is precisely the reason why she frequently comes into conflict with Peter, since she rivals him with her own claim to authority after the death of Jesus. The way in which the figures of Peter and Mary Magdalene are portrayed in these non-canonical texts illustrates contested opinions when it comes to Jesus’ succession, as well as the role of women within the community.

In the New Testament gospels, we see that Mary Magdalene, even though she is not a very prominent figure, is present at crucial moments in Jesus’ life story, such as the crucifixion and the scene of the empty tomb. The latter is the only narrative in which she explicitly comes into contact with Peter. In the gospel of John, we find the most Mary-centred account of the post-resurrection scene. Mary Magdalene alone is the first to witness the risen Jesus, and even has a short conversation with Him. The message of the resurrection of Jesus is only secondarily, through Mary, announced to the male disciples, including Peter. Even though Mary Magdalene and Peter are only mentioned together in the context of the empty tomb, we see that these two figures are frequently encountered together in various non-canonical sources. Moreover, they often seem to conflict with one another, which we do not explicitly see in the New Testament gospels.

In the Pistis Sophia, we see that Mary has a very prominent position amongst the disciples of Jesus, and is frequently in dialogue with Him. Moreover, Jesus is impressed by her spiritual capacity on multiple occasions. Peter, however, does not seem too pleased with the prominence of Mary, and accuses her of monopolising the discussion. Whilst Jesus grants Peter the chance to speak as well, He does not reprimand Mary, nor prohibits her from doing the same. Mary, in turn, expresses her concern with Peter’s dislike of her, saying that he threatens her and hates her race. This dislike of women in general is an aspect that the Gospel of Thomas also ascribes to Peter. 

In the Gospel of Thomas, it is once again Peter who asks Jesus to send Mary away, since he does not deem women to be worthy of life. Jesus does not grant Peter his wish, but states that all women will be able to enter the Kingdom once they have been ‘made male’.

In the Gospel of Philip, Mary Magdalene is described as having a very special connection with Jesus. Whether this connection is to be understood in marital or spiritual terms, or both, is not of great importance here. Important is that Mary has a position that is superior to that of the other (male) disciples, who in turn become jealous of her. Jesus, however, points out that He loves Mary more than the rest of them because she possesses a spiritual capacity that the others lack.

In my examination, a discussion of the Gospel of Mary should not be omitted. In this text, Mary Magdalene is not only a student, but has taken up the mantle of Jesus, encourages the other disciples and preaches Jesus’ words. This might indicate that the communities in which this text circulated saw Mary Magdalene as the most important figure of authority after the ascension of Jesus. Whereas at first Peter seems to support Mary, he quickly turns against her, denying that Jesus would share secret knowledge with her, but not with the rest of them.

In the Gospel of Peter, we read how Mary Magdalene is described as the disciple of the Lord, a title which is usually reserved for the Twelve. Moreover, it is she who takes the initiative to go to Jesus’ tomb, and who takes a group of unnamed women with her. Just as we have seen in the other texts discussed above, Mary Magdalene is explicitly portrayed as being part of the group of Jesus’ disciples. She is just as much a disciple as Peter, for example. 

It is worth noting here that in the non-canonical texts discussed above, Peter’s issue with Mary Magdalene has nothing to do with doctrinal differences, but is a result of her prominent status amongst Jesus’ disciples despite the fact that she is a woman. In this way, the conflict between Peter and Mary can be seen as a controversy as to what extent women should be allowed to actively serve in the community. The conflict between these two disciples can be viewed as a conflict between potential successors of Jesus, and, thus as a conflict concerning apostolic authority and leadership over the religious community. Even though the immediate presumption is that women were inferior to men in the early Church, recent scholarship has shown that women did, in fact, hold prominent positions of leadership in early Christian communities.  However, we must also be careful not to exaggerate the importance of women in early Christian communities.

It is striking to see that in all four New Testament gospels, Mary Magdalene is one of the first to see the risen Jesus. She is especially prominent in the Gospel of John, where she is the one to whom Jesus first appears and speaks, and who is to act as a messenger to the other disciples. This may very well be grounds for the authority of Mary, to even see her as the successor of Jesus. However, in what eventually became orthodox Christianity, Peter was regarded as the true successor of Jesus, the one on whose authority the subsequent papal system was built, the one who became the foundation of the church. Combined with the way in which there often seems to be a conflict between Mary Magdalene and Peter in non-canonical early Christian sources, we might see these two figures as vying for the same authority, for the same position of leadership in the communities which had just lost their Founder. It is very interesting indeed to think about how it could have gone differently, how Mary Magdalene could have succeeded in obtaining the position as successor of Jesus. In what ways would Christianity be different? Would there have been more equality? Another canon? Whilst we will never know the answers to these questions, the radically different portrayals of the figures of Mary Magdalene and Peter in the primary sources which have been discussed here, show that there were a myriad of thoroughly diverging viewpoints and expectations amongst, and perhaps even within, early Christian communities.

Selected bibliography:

Brock, Ann Graham. Mary Magdalene, the First Apostle: The Struggle for Authority. Harvard Theological Studies, 51. Cambridge: Harvard Divinity School, 2003.

Denzey Lewis, Nicola. “Women in Gnosticism.” In Patterns of Women’s Leadership in Early Christianity, edited by Joan E. Taylor and Ilaria Ramelli, 109-129. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

Heine, Susanne. Frauen Der Frühen Christenheit: Zur Historischen Kritik Einer Feministischen Theologie. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986. 

King, Karen L. “Prophetic Power and Women’s Authority: The Case of the Gospel of Mary (Magdalene).” In Women Preachers and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity, edited by Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Pamela J. Walker, 21-41. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998

Madigan, Kevin, and Carolyn Osiek. Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. 

Marjanen, Antti. The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, 40. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996. 

Schaberg, Jane. The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: Legends, Apocrypha and the Christian Testament. New York: Continuum, 2004.