Just last week my essay on Mary Magdalene as patron of feminist politics and theology was published online. This academic essay (peer-reviewed) is part of a larger project: the awesome Oxford Handbook of Mary Magdalene, edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona and published by Oxford University Press. By invitation of the editor I wrote an essay that builds further on my curatorial work for the Mary Magdalene exhibition (Museum Catharijneconvent, 2021) and consequential research. Over time I developed ideas about the essential role of reception history, and the multiplicity this reception history produces, in feminist understandings of Mary Magdalene. It was a great pleasure to let these ideas come to fruition in this essay.

Here’s the abstract to my essay: Mary Magdalene’s womanhood has been a defining characteristic of how she has been interpreted throughout history. Her gender is directly connected to the notions of physicality and sexuality, which in turn are assessed in terms of morality. This chain of connections has had a lasting impact on how Mary Magdalene has been theologically interpreted, and in turn how women at large have been positioned in Christian traditions. It has resulted in a myriad of interpretations, which provide Mary Magdalene with roles ranging from prostitute to prominent disciple, and from penitent sinner to female leader. This chapter, by discussing the Synoptic Gospel references, the search for a historical Magdalene, and her vast reception history, argues how this multiplicity is key to studying Mary Magdalene through a feminist lens.

If you have access to (a library that has access to) this Oxford Handbook, don’t forget to explore the other chapters: there are many other amazing essays on a large variety of aspects of the figure of Mary Magdalene – by an amazing line-up of scholars. I am still in awe to be part of this crowd.

The online publication is still in progress, nearing completion. The print edition is expected to be published later this year.