About the Event
All ChurchSpiritual Growth
Date | Sunday, June 8, 2025
Time | 11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Location | Heaton Hall
Guest Speaker | Beth Maczka | Learn more about the speaker
Discovering the Real Mary Magdalene: Her Importance Now
In 1950, Pope Pius XII issued a papal encyclical affirming that upon her life’s completion, the Virgin Mary’s Ascension into heaven was not merely spiritual, but bodily as well. This was the first time that any Pope had issued an encyclical that so explicitly affirmed Mary in this way, and it crossed a new theological threshold. A few years later, Carl Jung, the pioneering depth psychologist, sage, and epic man, stated that the most far-reaching event of the 20th century was this encyclical by Pope Pius as it gave full sanction to the embodied feminine, elevating her to a status of equality with the masculine.
Some 65 years later, Jung’s assessment appears prophetic. The majority of areas in the West have since led and accomplished more progress on women’s rights, equality, and justice than most civilizations in the world have seen for the past two millennia. This post-World War II emergence of the Divine feminine has started a revolution in human consciousness around the world that is ongoing and expanding.
The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Scriptures in Egypt in 1945 have revealed new Gospels that were not included in the Canon of the New Testament. One of these 2nd and 3rd century texts, the Gospel of Mary, has revealed a Mary Magdalene who is very different from the traditional interpretation of the canonical Gospels. These writings suggest that Mary Magdalene was a self-empowered woman, disciple of Jesus, and the Apostle to the Apostles.
This portrait of the real Mary Magdalene has also been described in Cynthia Bourgeault’s 2010 book on this leading disciple. And Diana Butler Bass gave a renown talk about her at the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina in 2023. Her talk featured the groundbreaking research textual scholar, Elizabeth Schrader-Polczer. The recording was later posted on social media and in its first 10 months gained over 1.2 million views, far surpassing what most religious or spiritual videos ever garner.
Ongoing research has furthered the case for a dramatically revised understanding of who this disciple actually was. When exploring options for Divinity school in 2019, our speaker, Beth Maczka, contacted Elizabeth Schrader-Polczer (close friend of Diana Butler Bass). Their friendship has inspired Beth’s emerging research on Mary Magdalene through art history and ancient texts.
We will journey through art history to trace Mary Magdalene's steps as the anointer of Jesus and proclaimer of the Resurrection.
Truly I tell you, wherever the Gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her. - Mark 14:9 NRSV
Beth’s original research on Mary Magdalene began by exploring the anointing story in Mark 14. It led her on a two-month pilgrimage to six countries to research and find images of the anointing of Jesus’s head (not his feet). Beth discovered Mary Magdalene in Medieval and Early Christian Art, where her image was previously suppressed or made anonymous. She celebrates and commissions Contemporary Art that depicts Mary Magdalene’s power and authority.
Beth’s talk is both personal and academic, highlighting medieval art from the Princeton Index of Medieval Art, Sarcophagi from France and Spain, and a vibrant collection of contemporary artists who depict Mary Magdalene’s role as the Apostle to the Apostles.
Mary Magdalene has become one of the most influential figures in the history of the Christian faith, offering us a more alive and vital Christianity for women--and the rest of us. Please join us as we re-discover and re-claim this compelling and mystical saint and where she may be leading us today.
Please feel free to share our event flyer. Simply download and print it out or share a link to this page.