Qué se sabe de … María Magdalena by Carmen Bernabé Ubieta (review)

This work was inspired by Carmen Bernabé Ubieta's doctoral dissertation, "Las tradiciones de Maria Magdalena en el cristianismo primitivo" (Universidad de Deusto, 1991). The study is not a historical-critical reconstruction of the person of Mary Magdalene. Its purpose is the study of the memory of Mary Magdalene and its transmission and reinterpretation in early Christian writings.

In the introduction, B.U. discusses the book's objective, methodology, and contribution. Her approach relies on the human sciences and feminist exegetical principles. By focusing on the importance of the social context of the primitive communities at the moment the memory of Mary Magdalene was being transmitted and recorded in the elaboration of ancient texts, B.U. presents a view of the social and political role of women in the Greco-Roman world.

The book divides into four parts after the introduction. The first section, composed of a single brief chapter, presents a historical summary of images of Mary Magdalene as an apostle, repentant prostitute, wife-lover of Jesus and the process of confusion that gave raise to some of these traditions.

The second, lengthier section consists of four chapters. In chap. 2, B.U. identifies the social-political situation of Galilee as one of extreme poverty and oppression for the common people. This gave rise to messianic expectations in the person of Jesus. B.U. suggests that Mary Magdalene may have adhered to the Jesus-movement because of her own personal political and cultural marginalization. The Jesus-movement remembers her in the following two ways: (1) as a wealthy woman (from Taricheae/Al-Majdal, a prosperous commercial center with a strong Hellenistic influence despite being a Judean city) who supported Jesus's ministry because of her strong religious belief that the messianic age had arrived in his person; (2) by the appellative "of Madgala" to differentiate her from other women named Mary. In chap. 3, B.U. defines memory as either "the collective memory (memories that reside in the daily life of a group and change with the passage of time) or cultural memory (memories that are objectivized in texts, rituals, and monuments). The name of Mary Magdalene in first position in the list of women's names who accompanied Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels suggests her importance among the women and in the cultural memory of the community who preserved the names. Chapter 4 consists of a linguistic analysis of the Greek verbs akoloutheō ("to follow"), diakoneō ("to serve") and synanabainō ("to ascend") in Mark 15:40 and Matt 25:55–66 to establish the apostolic role of Mary Magdalene. Applying cultural anthropology and linguistic analysis to Luke 8:1–3, B.U. argues in chap 5. that the evangelist applies the cultural topos of the Jewish and Greco-Roman world that viewed a woman's nature as morally weak and thus more vulnerable to demonic possession. B.U. says that Luke introduces gender differences when describing illnesses between men and women. A man's illness is nosos (physical, Luke 4:40; 6:18; 7:21; 9:1); a woman's illness is astheneia (physical and moral, Luke 8:2; 13:11–12). Luke attributes women's illness to demonic possession, and their liberation becomes the sign of the eschatological time. In this way, Luke dismisses Mary Magdalene "as apostle to the apostles" and makes her a patron of Jesus and his disciples.

The third section includes two chapters. In chap. 6, B.U. suggests that an ancient oral tradition remembers that Mary Magdalene's original visit to Jesus's tomb was to mourn and lament (an activity associated with women). The ritual lament was the circumstance prompting Luke to explain the theology of Jesus's absence, resurrection, and victory over death during Mary Magdalene's visit to the tomb. B.U. points out in chap. 7 that Luke further obscures Mary Magdalene's apostolic role by attributing apostleship to males only, specifically to the Twelve and by making Peter the recipient...