One my most electrifying moments in the Holy Land was walking through a banana plantation on the shore of the Sea of Galilee one November Sabbath and seeing this sign in English, Arabic, and Hebrew by a tiny shrine amid a few crumbling stones:

These are the ruins of Magda, the home of Mary Magdalene.
Sherry Weddell | 10.31.03 - 2:40 pm | #

Oops that Magdala!
Sherry Weddell | 10.31.03 - 2:47 pm | #

I am incensed at the libels being thrown at my patron (confirmation) saint, Mary Magdalen.
alicia the midwife | Homepage | 10.31.03 - 10:34 pm | #

I don't know Hebrew, but both THE ANCHOR BIBLE DICTIONARY and JOhn Mackenzie's DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE render "migdol" as "tower". The Talmud calls the town "Fish Tower." Neither accepts the notion that the was a sinner, which I do know was an interpretation of Gregory the Great. Her shrine in Magdala was being visited by pilgrims almost a century before he wrote.
Sandra Miesel | 11.01.03 - 10:26 am | #

And if Mary Magdalene happens not to have been a harlot, my son asks the trenchant question, "What evidence do we have that she looked like Barbara Hershey?" In other words, what clues do we have from the Sciptures that she was young and beautiful? How do we know she wasn't an older widow with property and time on her hands?
Sandra Miesel | 11.01.03 - 4:10 pm | #

I saw the movie when it first came out, and recently I rented the video and just couldn't get through it.

OK, it was blasphemous, but it was also just a crappy movie. I didn't know whether to be scandalized or embarrassed.

The Apostles wouldn't have gone to their highly unpleasant martyrdoms for a bloke with a girlfriend.
pavel chichikov | Homepage | 11.01.03 - 7:05 pm | #

The Eastern Church has never thought the Magdalene was a harlot and makes fun of us for saying so.
Sandra Miesel | 11.01.03 - 7:13 pm | #

The identification of Mary Magdalene with the fallen woman expresses the very heart of Christianity; if she isn't the same woman, then her story is more peripheral --- rich patronesses can be found attached to any cult or ideological movement.
SJ | 11.01.03 - 9:23 pm | #

Although the conflation of the three is emotionally attractive to me, I find it hard to equate Mary of Bethany the sister of Martha and Lazarus with the "sinful" woman. As such she doesn't fit into the family and these adult siblings seemed to constitute a regular family. It's not impossible that Mary of Bethany knew of the "sinful" woman's gesture and imitated it with perfume instead of tears.
caroline | 11.01.03 - 9:37 pm | #

I'm not sure about the logic of "as though she were widely known by this act and were unique for having done it--a characterization that would make no sense if it had been done by more than one woman." John says: "with ointment." That's not the same "act" as washing feat with one's tears.
Kevin Miller | Homepage | 11.02.03 - 9:57 pm | #

I also don't get the connection between Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene. I've never even heard of the conflation before (though I'm certainly no expert. But it seems a little strange to me because Mary, Martha and Lazarus appear to be old friends of Jesus. Thay also appear to be "repectable;" bu the woman caught in adultery seems to be someone from the wrong side of town.
John Sheridan | 11.03.03 - 9:12 am | #