Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend

Peter Paul & Mary MagdaleneBart Ehrmann is not just re-chewing old cabbage from previous books here, though he is forced by his subject matter to reexamine old ground from a new point of view. The rationale for his title, which he obviously found just too pawkishly juicy to resist, is the way in which the sixties folk pop trio, like the Biblical one, came on the scene in an apocalyptic time bearing a pop-countercultural message, the latter as expressed in what became the Gospels, the latter-day one in such a song as "If I Had A Hammer."In the Biblical case, unlike the sixties case, this book's central question is who were these people? Modern Christians seem to be pretty sure they know, for all that their opinions may vary all over the map. By way of illustrating the real problem, Ehrmann would ask, for example, who was Jesus? For all that modern Christians may think they know that one, the reality is that the four different gospels portray four different Jesuses, with radically different personalities. For modern Christians, of course, who read the Bible "as a little child," if at all, this is not necessarily a crisis of faith. They just go with the Jesus they like best, most usually the rather Buddhistic "cool guy in sandals" Jesus of Matthew, and let it go at that. Obviously for a serious scholar like Ehrmann, that's not good enough, for understanding either the real Jesus or other such lesser players as Peter, Paul and Mary.Simon-called-Peter, for a start, is particularly problematical, in that, important as he must have been, we only know him from the accounts of others. By all accounts, he was an illiterate Aramaic-speaking blue-collar fisherman, a strange choice for what Jesus called "The rock upon which I will build my church..." especially since Peter seems, by temperament, anything but a rock. As both the apostle who cut off the ear of one of Jesus' adversaries and who denied Jesus thrice, Peter always seems rather a volatile, constantly doubting, vacillating hothead, to a degree that occasions Ehrmann to suggest that Jesus may have simply been being sarcastic. The writings attributed to Peter, in highly literate Koine Greek, are obviously not really his, nor do we know for sure what he actually may have gone on to do, all accounts being variously unreliable and contradictory. To the Catholic church, he was the first patriarch of Rome, where he was eventually martyred, though alas there is no verifiable record of Peter's ever actually having visited Rome, and significant reason to suppose that he wouldn't have in any case, so who was this masked man anyway? For Ehrmann, though, this is just where it gets interesting. Just as important as who Peter really was is the issue of who people, from then to now, have thought he was, as expressed through legendry and literary forgeries about him down through Christian history, which have had such a profound effect on that history and on church doctrine.This is even truer of Saul-called-Paul, the only player, including Jesus himself, who we can be reasonably sure ever existed as a flesh and blood historical character, and who has left us some actual record in his own words. Again, just as important as who Paul was is who people since then have thought he was, with its corresponding influence, for better or worse, on church history and doctrine. Obviously, not all of that has worked out the way Paul himself might have wanted. Of all the New Testament epistles under his name, for example, almost half are later forgeries written by others, and it is in fact the forgeries that have caused him to be remembered mainly, in history and church doctrine, as a woman-hater and an anti-semite, policies plainly contradicted by a careful reading of the epistles Paul actually wrote, but which have caused huge problems for Christianity ever since.Which is not necessarily to say that Paul was really just a misunderstood goodguy, of course. He was, after all, the Pharisee who ultimately hijacked the newborn church from the original Nazarenes and radically transformed it from a Jewish heresy into a paganized, gnosticised mystery cult, with a central message that pretty much flew in the face of what would appear to have been Jesus' own central teachings, all on the basis of a brief epiphany on the road to Damascus, which may or may not ever have really happened. Paul, who never met Jesus, was no disciple, after all; he seems, in fact, to know practically nothing about Jesus himself. He has none of the things to say about the life or teachings of the real flesh-and-blood Jesus that a disciple normally would, and shows no interest in any aspect of Jesus apart from his spiritual significance as resurrected savior; not so much the Jewish "Messiah," or "Redeemer," as simply the paganized "Christ," or "Annointed One," a troubling distinction that today's Christians manage to melt together just by not thinking too much about it, but which has been problematical for Christianity all the way back to Jesus himself, who sometimes seems to have been of two or more minds about it.One could call Paul, as he called himself, an "apostle," of course... but an apostle of what? Actually, of his own ideas and doctrines, a huge problem for Christianity all the way down to Martin Luther and on into our own time, and perhaps the biggest cause of Christianity's central problem of epistemological incoherency, leaving Christendom perpetually stranded at the crossing-points of who Paul was versus who people have thought he was.In getting round to Mary Magdalen, Ehrmann seems to take a lot of pleasure in shifting gears and having some fun. He points out the irony of Mary being, today certainly, the biggest rock star of all the players despite, or perhaps even because of, receiving the least notice in scripture. Since the gospels say so little about her that we can't be absolutely sure about such issues as whether she was a prostitute or even knew Jesus all that well, it's intriguing to see her toil on down through Christian history to become not just the intimate and confidante of Jesus, but even his mistress or wife and, ultimately, the mother, by Jesus, of the founder of a line of French kings. Obviously what is at work here is the spontaneous evolution of a compelling corpus of post-biblical modern mythology, with its own informal sub-religion of zealous believers. Ehrmann gets an excuse here to discuss in some depth not only such rather deplorable pop fables as Jesus Christ Superstar, The Last Temptation, The DaVinci Code et al., but traces the genre back through mediaeval legendry, some of it spawned by clergy, to roots in early Gnostic and apochrypal writings such as found in the Nag Hamadi trove, and classical era gender lore. To my mind, it's an ideal wrap-up for a thoroughly engaging book.

Dr. Ehrman is one of the world's most brilliant academics on theology. He's was a Christian and during his teaching career became an agnostic. Yet, and no surprise, he STILL writes and lectures very comprehensively with a true unbias and in a neutral way. He leaves it up to this student to decide without predigest. I"ll continue to watch his lectures and buy his books. Dr. Ehrman, like Bishop (Dr.) N.T. Wight and Catholic Bishop Barron (LA) always provide compelling books worth the read.

This is a great introduction on "Peter, Paul & Mary Magdalene" : professor Bart D. Ehrman makes it very clear from the beginning that the Gospels are about theology & religion and not history! However there are some historical facts that are embedded in between theology & religion in these Gospels. To search for the reasonable historical accounts, professor Bart D. Ehrman suggests studying the Gospels "vertically" (reading from beginning to the end of one Gospel to another) as well as "horizontally" (comparing the Gospels on similarity, differences & asking why?), reading other Gospels not included in the Bible (Gnostic Gospels) & other historical accounts available. Despite these suggestions, it is still quite difficult as to ascertain what is historical fact & what is simply legend! We may never know the true all historical facts about Peter, Paul & Mary Magdalene for sure but some conclusions could be made based on available evidence : Peter is unlikely to have been the first Pope/first Bishop of Rome (the Roman church did not have anyone as its bishop/Pope until about a hundred years after the death of Peter professor Bart D. Ehrman proclaims, p84), that Peter had miracles in his ministry may be true but some may not have happened (Peter raising a dead smoked tuna fish & Gnostic Simon Magus falling from lavitated position, breaking his leg in three positions & dying three days later as he competes with Peter on miracles (from "The Acts Of Peter") and that Peter was crucified upside down is alluded to in the Gospel of John 21:18 & by tradition in the book of 1 Clement. With Paul things are a bit clearer : he never met Jesus during Jesus's Ministry but Jesus was "revealed" to him on his way to Damascus! Paul's teachings & views were different from "original followers of Jesus" e. g. James The Just, Jesus's brother (James was more 'Jewish' than Paul, Paul more liberal), leading to some disagreements & friction between the two, James The Just having the last say, p166 & p167-169. Mary Magdalene is however wrongfully identified as a prostitute by Pope Gregory the Great), there is no evidence of her marrying Jesus despite suggestions in the Gnostic Gopspels (Gospel of Philip & Gospel of Mary Magdalene) proclaims professor Bart D. Ehrman. This is a great book, forms a very good basis on these three important Gospels'individuals : who they were in history & in legend, great read, a highly recommended reading that could have been more detailed including the Gnostic "Acts of Philip" on Mary Magdalene.

I thought the book was well thought out and covered every angle of these three early leaders of Christianity. The author covers both the traditional aspects of Peter, Paul, and Mary that we see in the Bible but on the non-traditional side as seen through the Gnostic gospels.Highly recommended for those with open minds and a desire to learn about early Christianity.

Selected this book as I have found the authors past books to be interesting and thought provoking. Seeing this in a footnote reference in a recent book I read, I decided to give it a try. Turned out to be a good decision

The book arrived pretty quickly but I just started reading it so I do not have anything to say yet. I hope that I like what was written about these faithful followers of Jesus my God. Transaction went smoothly.

I've only read about Mary so far but for a woman mentioned less than 13 times in the Bible, we are truly fascinated with her. Was she the first apostle? Read the Gospels again - was she alone in front of an open tomb? Did she come with friends? Was she instructed to tell the other disciples or keep this information to herself. Fascinating read.

As usual, an excellently researched and well written book by Ehrmann on how early Christianity developed. Always enjoy his work and explanation about this pretty much unknown period.

Mi corre l'obbligo di precisare che per il momento ho letto del libro solo i capitoli dedicati alla figura di Maria Maddalena. Ed è a questa parte del volume che limito la mia recensione. Alla luce della vera e propria paccottiglia bibliografica che circola su Maria Maddalena, opera di scrittori dalle dubbie competenze storiche ed esegetiche, trascinati non di rado dal desiderio di proporre letture sensazionalistiche quando non scandalistiche sulle origini della principale religione monoteistica dell'Occidente, è con non poca soddisfazione che si legge una trattazione finalmente seria e rigorosa sull'argomento, scritta per altro in modo godibile e brillante. L'autore, infatti, oltre ad essere una penna particolarmente felice, è un affermato storico del cristianesimo dei primi secoli, non sospettabile inoltre di inclinazioni apologetiche, essendo di tendenze agnostiche. Egli offre una ricostruzione della figura di Maria Maddalena molto equilibrata, che pur riconoscendo a questo personaggio il ruolo fondamentale di aver dato in un certo senso avvio al cristianesimo in qualità di prima annunciatrice della risurrezione di Gesù, respinge di fatto la sua immagine come sposa o discepola privilegiata di Gesù, quale emerge da taluni testi apocrifi. Egli non cede infatti alla tentazione, oggi molto diffusa, di prediligere, come fonti storiche, i testi apocrifi a quelli neotestamentari; e questo non già sulla base di un criterio di scelta teologico che antepone il canonico all'apocrifo, ma sulla base del diverso valore storico riconoscibile ai due gruppi di testi, essendo i primi più antichi e più vicini dei secondi alla realtà storica della Maddalena e di Gesù, pur non essendo neanche questi esenti da deformazioni di tipo teologico che ne rendono problematico l'uso in sede storica. Ehrman nota giustamente come, collocando sull'asse diacronico le diverse testimonianze antiche, si osservi una crescita progressiva dell'importanza della Maddalena, che trova il suo apice sopratutto nei testi gnostici, che dunque rappresentano probabilmente sviluppi successivi della tradizione. Quella della Maddalena è dunque per Ehrman una figura molto importante delle origini cristiane, in quanto prima "apostola" del Vangelo della risurrezione, ma verosimilmente essa non ebbe quel ruolo che certe interpretazioni antiche e moderne di orientamento gnostico, neognostico o new age le assegnano.

Present for my niece who is going through a religious crisis

Bart Ehrman est un excellent vulgarisateur de l'histoire des premiers temps du christianisme. Ici il s'intéresse à trois figures centrales du mouvement en voie de devenir le christianisme. Il les étudie sous deux aspects : premièrement historique en tachant de retrouver les éléments les plus probables de leur biographie, pesant ce qui semble historiquement attesté et ce qui tient manifestement de la légende et deuxièmement il rend compte des usages légendaires et théologiques fait de leur rapport à Jésus. Intelligent, simple, abordable mais pas simpliste!

Highly recommended for those who wish to dig deeper into the persons of Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene

The work of a master teacher. Clarifies much, cast the light of critical scholarship on many of the myths that surround the three disciples/apostles featured. Should be on the shelf of anyone interested in the NT.