Sources
Canonical and noncanonical sources reveal a wealth of information
regarding women’s role in the development of the early church. It is
clear from such texts that the authority of Mary Magdalene and that of
Peter were often in conflict with each other. This is seen in how “Luke
magnifies Peter and diminishes Mary, while John magnifies Mary and
diminishes Peter.” 1
Feminist scholar Ann Graham Brock identifies that “texts with pro-
Petrine tendencies significantly differ in their portrayals of Mary’s
status from those texts in which Peter holds a diminished position.” 2
For example, the Gospel of Peter portrays Peter as witnessing Jesus’
resurrection and narrating the entire text. 3 Unlike the four canonical
Gospels, the text does not mention any women at the foot of the
cross. Additionally, Mary Magdalene and the other women never
receive a commission to deliver the Good News, as they do in most of
the canonical Gospels. Also, according to the text, the women are not
the first recipients of the resurrection news; the guards and the elders
at the tomb are witnesses at Jesus’ resurrection.
This reduces the women’s role to a secondary, less essential one in
the spreading of the Good News immediately after the resurrection. It
also diminishes Mary Magdalene’s role as an apostle to less than Paul’s
apostolic “requirements” of having known Jesus Christ and being given
a specific mission on which to build a community of believers. In Paul’s
letters, apostleship is based on witnessing resurrection appearances
of Jesus Christ and receiving a commission (1 Cor 15:5-9). 4
Several noncanonical texts also portray this struggle for authority
between Mary Magdalene and Peter. These include the Gospel of
Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and Pistis Sophia. 5 In the Gospel of Thomas,
Peter attempts to have Mary leave the company of disciples because
“women are not worthy of life” (Gospel of Thomas, Saying 114). If it is
true that the church fathers composing the canon held a gender bias,
it is possible to conclude that this text was not included in the canon,
not because of Peter’s diminishment of women, but because of Jesus’
reaction to this dismissal from Peter. Jesus replies to Peter, “Look, I will
guide her to make her male, so that she, too, may become a living
spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male
will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Gospel of Thomas, Saying 114).
Many feminist scholars have interpreted these passages as a conflict
between Peter and Jesus over women’s role in the Church, Peter
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