Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute began in 591, when Pope Gregory I identified Mary Magdalene, who was introduced in Luke 8:2, with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39) and the unnamed "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus's feet in Luke 7:36–50. [152]
French scholar Victor Saxer dates the identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, and as Mary of Bethany, to a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great on 21 September 591 A.D., where he seemed to combine the actions of three women mentioned in the New Testament and also identified an unnamed woman as Mary Magdalene.
The accounts are generally considered to be independent events, though often been conflated—a result being the assumption that Mary is a prostitute. This is furthered by the presence of a number of women named Mary in the New Testament , leading to Mary of Bethany being interpreted as Mary Magdalene .
Gomer, a prostitute whom God commanded Hosea to marry in the biblical Book of Hosea; Mary Magdalene was supposed to have been a prostitute by those who identified her with the sinful woman in Luke 7:36–50, an identification now generally abandoned [4] Rahab of Jericho
The idea that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute before she met Jesus is not found in the Bible or in any of the other earliest Christian writings. It has been a disputed doctrine in several theological traditions whether Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (who anoints Jesus' feet in John 11:1–12), [ 228 ] and the unnamed " sinful woman " who ...
Around the 12th century, the idea of prostitute saints took hold, with Mary Magdalene being one of the most popular saints of the era. The Church used Mary Magdalene's biblical history of being a reformed harlot to encourage prostitutes to repent and mend their ways. [67]
The 1891 painting by Jean Béraud brought the episode into the 19th century, with the repentant prostitute represented by the well-known courtesan Liane de Pougy, [18] who eventually became a Dominican tertiary. [19] The parable is included in medieval [20] and later mystery plays about Mary Magdalene, such as Lewis Wager's play of 1550–1566 ...
Mary Magdalene became a symbol of the sacrament of penance and contemplation. [4] In Baroque art, Mary Magdalene is usually shown beneath Christ's feet because according to interpretations of the Bible, she was a prostitute who washed Jesus's feet using her hair and tears.