she wasnt a prostitute?? i went to christian school for 12 years! thats what they always told us!
Nope! Nowhere in the gospels is Mary Magdalene described as a prostitute; I know! I’ve read them! There are plenty of unnamed women in the bible, some of whom were prostitutes, and during the middle ages especially Mary Magdalene was conflated with these women (either accidentally or intentionally), which helped give rise to the belief that she was a prostitute herself (also having demons ‘cast out’ of her didn’t help because demons in women are so scary-sexy). The only thing that is certain from the gospels is that she is a very prominent Christian scripture character, especially with regards to the resurrection story (all four gospels mention her there, and three of three of the four say she was a witness either by herself or with a group of other women). She is mentioned by name more than a lot of the other characters of the gospels.
There’s a lot of theories about why this (turning Mary into a prostitute) happened, a lot of which boil down to trying to minimize the role of Mary Magdalene in what was evolving to be a less than lady friendly environment. It’s obviously not that simple, but it’s a false narrative that’s stuck around, because, let’s face it, prostitutes are interesting. Prostitute Mary Magdalene spices up the Christ narrative. It makes it feel more real and cool and has for hundreds of years.
This is the most basic overview of the Mary Magdalene as a prostitute stuff. I’m sure I’m not doing it any justice. But there ya go. Not a prostitute despite what a lot of people want you to believe.
