THE GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE by Jean-Yves Leloup
One
of the most influential and profound ancient texts in my life is THE
GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE (GMary is the Biblical scholars’ shorthand). I
would not have found Magdalene Circle if I hadn’t read this text. I
wouldn’t have gone out and looked for these commentaries if not for
GMary. The Gospel of Mary tells the story of how the Teacher (Yeshua)
gave instruction to the disciples after his resurrection at which time
Mary Magdalene takes his place as leader of the church. The Gospel
describes her visions of the Teacher, the arguments between the
disciples about her vision, and the resolution by Levy. In his book
“The Gospel of Mary Magdalene,” Jean-Yves Leloup puts forth a primarily
theological meaning of the ancient text, while still addressing
historical context. Leloup is a noted theologian, writer, lecturer,
professor and a priest in the French Orthodox tradition. Leloup’s
approach is to look at how we can learn to experience the resurrection
for ourselves using GMary as a guide. He not only looks at both the deep
theological meaning but the history of words and ideas. He tells us that
Mary teaches that we experience the resurrection by grace of the “nous,”
an ancient Greek term that is translated in other works as “mind,”
“will,” “consciousness” and “determination” among other possible
meanings. “Nous” is also the root “noia” as in paranoia, metanoia and
the Hellenized Hebrew title for Sophia Protennoia (First Thought which
links her to Prometheus, who brought fire or consciousness from Heaven
to humankind). Leloup reminds us that the resurrection is both physical
and spiritual. Nous appears in the section where Mary describes a
vision of the Lord at Peter’s request. In my opinion, this is one of the
most remarkable stories in any canonical or non-canonical work. First,
is it a memory of a vision discussed with the person who is the object
of the vision! Very David Lynch. It contains one of the most surprising
and interesting questions in all biblical literature which leads Leloup
to focus on his theme; “Lord, when someone meets you in a moment of
vision, is it through the soul that they see, or is it through the
Spirit?” Yeshua replies that it is neither, but through the “nous”
between the soul and spirit. So, if it is so important what is “nous”?
That’s a great question! See if you agree with Leloup as you read this
book.
