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Jan Roberts's avatar

I had never considered the connection between Peter (upon this rock I will build my church) and the church’s reflection of Peter’s hit-headed, impulsive, impetuous ways. Duh - how could I have missed it?

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Kim Eckhart's avatar

I like the way you draw up a contrast between Peter and Mary. I am always in search of ways we can integrate two opposing streams to hold tension and find balance, i.e masculine and feminine energy, freedom and community. Perhaps Jesus was giving the keys to both of them and it’s up to us to integrate the two. Of course, emphasizing the one that has been pushed into the shadows is a necessary stage toward that end, which I call “partnership.”

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Eresh Kemet's avatar

I am a Gnostic Christian, and a priestess of the Holy Order of Mary Magdalene. I have studied canonical and non-canonical writing for quite a while now. She is the ideal that modern feminism SHOULD have taken up. I can hardly wait to see the fiction you find on Mary Magdalene.

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Melissa's avatar

I'm so grateful to connect with you! I'm also a vowed priestess of Mary Magdalene. I absolutely agree that our patroness is the ideal for modern, intersectional, sacred feminism. Thanks be that we can wake now and know her. <3

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Virgin Monk Boy's avatar

This is holy fire, Melissa. The kind that doesn’t burn the house down—just the parts built on insecure men’s egos.

Peter was many things: bold, devoted, shaky as hell. But let’s be honest—if Christ handed him the keys, it might’ve been because he knew Peter would need a map, a manual, and a mystical GPS just to find the front door.

Meanwhile, Mary didn’t need keys. She was the threshold.

The Gospel of Mary doesn’t just give us a different theology—it gives us a different tone. Not command-and-control but inner knowing. Not empire-building but ego-dissolving. She didn’t posture. She recognized. And that terrified the boys’ club who still thought salvation came with a beard.

And here we are—two millennia later, watching the sons of Peter launch wars in Christ’s name while silencing the daughters of Mary who actually understood what he was saying.

But as you said—it’s not too late. Magdalene Christianity didn’t die. It just went underground, like all wild and sacred things do when Empire is at large.

Thanks for naming the fracture.

Thanks for pointing us back to the path with dirt under its feet and wisdom in its breath.

The stone the builders rejected is speaking again.

And she sounds a lot like Mary.

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Melissa's avatar

This comment is a whole sermon. Yes yes yes. The daughters (and sons) of Mary are waking up, and it's such a gift to witness.

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Shellie Enteen's avatar

Thank you for this. I have wondered why the Roman church became the way it is and though I was raised in a Protestant Christian denomination, this picture of Peter was never taught. The Roman Church were not only misogynists (bad enough) but add the removal of reincarnation in their ongoing councils (this one in 4th century) and the edict that all churches bow to the Roman Pope (in mid 6th century) that was enforced with bloodshed and we don't have a very christlike image from the beginning. In fact, it seems that the Romans (post Peter) had the nature of conquerors and when feeding Chrstians to lions and etc. didn't stop the religion, decided to join it, made an edict to Rome that this was their new religion, found an influencer (Constantine) and used it as a religious second Roman invasion, enforced with blood shed in all 'conquered' indigenous cultures.

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Melissa's avatar

Oh yes! I want to write about how the removal of reincarnation has shaped the Church and the harm it's done, but I haven't put the words together yet. This comment has inspired me to look at that again. Thank you so much for reading and for sharing your thoughts!

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Shelly Shepherd's avatar

She is rising… May we all have the courage to follow the way of Mary Magdalene…

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Melissa's avatar

Amen and Amen. <3

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Barbara A.'s avatar

Excellent article.

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Melissa's avatar

Thank you so much!

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