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Presenter: Rev. Dr. Kit Schooley

A fragile manuscript, a private room, and a challenge that still stings: who gets to speak for Jesus when the records are broken and the crowd isn’t there to witness it? We unpack the Gospel of Mary against a Hellenistic backdrop where God is distant, matter feels suspect, and the soul struggles upward. Instead of a public miracle at Galilee, we hear a small circle wrestling with inner revelations, missing pages, and a mission that might stall before it starts.

Mary steps forward to interpret a post-resurrection conversation, sketching stages of ascent that sound more like shedding burdens than climbing a neat ladder. Andrew and Peter push back, questioning her credibility and the idea that Jesus could favor her insight. Levi (Matthew) answers with a sharp correction: if the Savior deemed her worthy, who are we to reject her? That moment reframes the episode from a gendered squabble into a strategy session for a young movement: stop piling on rules, stop gatekeeping spiritual status, and carry the message into a skeptical world. We connect these sparks to wider currents—anti-legalism, the break from Jewish norms, and the swirl of heterodoxy and orthodoxy that shaped the canon.

Across the hour, we trace why private texts struggled for acceptance, how early ascetic demands set impossible bars, and what “no new laws” meant for communities trying to grow without shrinking the table. Mary’s tears anchor the stakes: authority, trust, and the future of the mission. If you care about women’s leadership in the early church, the politics of canon, and the practical craft of evangelizing across cultures, this conversation opens a rare window into second-century tensions that feel uncomfortably current.

If this episode resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves early Christian history, and leave a review with your take: who should we trust to interpret Jesus today?

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