Mary Magdalene acknowledged

In Acts, the apostles meet after the Resurrection and choose Mary (rather than Matthias) to replace Judas. She becomes a more central figure in Acts, and the structure of Acts revolves around Peter, Paul, and Mary. Mary's epistles are held in the same reverence as Paul's, and are included in the King James Bible.

Some of the Protestant Reformation revolves around the role of women in the church and society. Some groups believe that only women should be pastors, some argue only men, and some insist that only a married couple can properly minister to the flock. Some of the more radical sects make their way to America. Their influence on the Unitarians finds its way into the constitution as Abigail Adams ensures that women's suffrage is included.
 
Not if Jesus was married it wouldn't. If Mary Magdalene was acknowledged as Jesus' wife the whole thing changes. As does the nomination of Peter as head of the Church (OK rock on which my church is built but same thing essentially). Peter's leadership would be disputed by those who supported Mary Magdalene and the Holy Family. Why would Peter be in charge and not the grandchildren of God (which is what Jesus' children would be and an argument that the Family's supporters would make)?
Because Jesus specifically referred to Peter as "the rock on which my church is built" That's pretty unambiguous.

That's not to say you can't get a (probably deemed heretical - assuming the Christian church goes as OTL) group claiming that the Jesusids are entitled to, and that's not to say that they can't find something citing such being justified - but you asked.

Also, I think the term Holy Family is taken for Jesus and his mother, though those who know this better than I do correct me. Not sure it'd be the term for any spawn of his.

Plus there's the fact that Jesus was supposedly descended from King David, making his bloodline Divine and Royal, a double threat to Roman Palestine. Considering there was a Jewish revolt around 77 AD would we see a descendent of Jesus lead it?
I'm not really sure its becomes more of a threat because they claim to be divine.

seems like we have various levels of game changers

1. Mary Magdalene is acknowledged as a part of the religious leadership

This could possibly make the church more gender equal, with women sitting in bishopric chairs, possibly even taking over that part of society, as men focus on military means, leaving society as such more gender equal but with enforced gender roles

It is incredibly unlikely that ONE woman disciple is going to mean that the other male disciples are ignored when it comes to the idea of bishopric chairs. At best you have women in such roles accepted, but going to the other extreme? No way.

2. As 1, with the added fact that she married Jesus

Possibly kills off Vow of Celibacy, opening a door for priests getting married, and possibly making priesthood or being bishop a hereditary office
I'm not seeing why this leads to a hereditary office thing. Possible priestly marriages, yes, but hereditary office?

3. As 2, with surviving progeny for shorter or longer time.

Starts getting confusing with potential splintering over whom should be the religious leader.
See comments above.

In Acts, the apostles meet after the Resurrection and choose Mary (rather than Matthias) to replace Judas. She becomes a more central figure in Acts, and the structure of Acts revolves around Peter, Paul, and Mary. Mary's epistles are held in the same reverence as Paul's, and are included in the King James Bible.

Some of the Protestant Reformation revolves around the role of women in the church and society. Some groups believe that only women should be pastors, some argue only men, and some insist that only a married couple can properly minister to the flock. Some of the more radical sects make their way to America. Their influence on the Unitarians finds its way into the constitution as Abigail Adams ensures that women's suffrage is included.

You must really hate butterflies or like Abigail Adams to kill so many Lepidoptera.
 
How would Christianity change, if it was (at the time) acknowledged that Mary Magdalene was a apostle of equal ranking as the others, such as how certain texts suggests, instead of having been typecasted as a repenting prostitute?

The idea that Mary Magdalene was an apostle comes from a novel published in the last decade. The idea that Mary Magdalene was a repenting prostitutte comes from centuries after the New Testament was written and required misidentifying the unnamed woman in Luke 7 as Mary Magdalene and assuming that the woman was a former prostitute.
 
The idea that Mary Magdalene was an apostle comes from a novel published in the last decade. The idea that Mary Magdalene was a repenting prostitutte comes from centuries after the New Testament was written and required misidentifying the unnamed woman in Luke 7 as Mary Magdalene and assuming that the woman was a former prostitute.

Temporally confused much? ... sure The DaVinci mystery populized the idea, but it's been around on-off the last some 120 years after discovering some writings from 1st-5th century
 
Temporally confused much? ... sure The DaVinci mystery populized the idea, but it's been around on-off the last some 120 years after discovering some writings from 1st-5th century

Exactly; several non-canonical gospels do depict Mary in the role of Disciple, although, certainly, not all of them. It appears to have been a not-uncommon belief in early Christianity, although it never went mainstream.
 
was thinking ... could you set this up by Jesus picking another successor than Peter? Peter was, as viewed through certain gnostic gospels (both Gospel of Thomas and Gospel of Mary) seen as highly opposed to Mary Magdalene, and against the fact that Mary Magdalene (a Woman) is part of Jesus' inner circle.
 
was thinking ... could you set this up by Jesus picking another successor than Peter? Peter was, as viewed through certain gnostic gospels (both Gospel of Thomas and Gospel of Mary) seen as highly opposed to Mary Magdalene, and against the fact that Mary Magdalene (a Woman) is part of Jesus' inner circle.

As set down by the OP, it seems to me that the "Mary Magdalene the Wife" scenario would butterfly away the whole "Peter the Rock" scenario.

Hero of Canton
 
Exactly; several non-canonical gospels do depict Mary in the role of Disciple, although, certainly, not all of them. It appears to have been a not-uncommon belief in early Christianity, although it never went mainstream.

True. There's even a book called the Gospel of Mary, popularly believed to be about Mary Magdalene. There's a lot of mystery surrounding early Christianity.

As set down by the OP, it seems to me that the "Mary Magdalene the Wife" scenario would butterfly away the whole "Peter the Rock" scenario.

Hero of Canton

Yeah I agree. It's more likely that Jesus would make Mary Magdalene his successor if she was his wife, over a friend.
 
As set down by the OP, it seems to me that the "Mary Magdalene the Wife" scenario would butterfly away the whole "Peter the Rock" scenario.

Hero of Canton

As I'm the OP then ...

originally it wasn't aimed at the "Mary Magdalene the Wife" but merely a "Mary Magdalene the (Acknowledged) Apostle" ... Mary Magdalene the Wife and the considerations of what butterflies that comes out of that is very interesting but ultimately a sidetrack and only one of a multitude of potential scenarios
 
The problem is not her being equal to the others. the problem was that is all the stories about her being Jesus' lover...

I think it is definitely possible to separate the status of Mary Magdalene being recognized as an apostle versus her being the lover of Jesus.

The story of Mary Magdalene being a prostitute is not in the Bible, and is probably a much later invention of people combining various stories of the New Testament into one narrative. The idea of Mary being the lover of Jesus comes from the Gospel of Philip which is part of the Nag Hammadi gnostic texts. The Gnostics were not part of the Hebraic tradition. Gnosticism is an entirely different religious tradition that tried to hijack Christianity (as well as various other religions) to promote their own religious ideas. "Gnostic Christianity" is thus outside the teachings of Jesus and the early Church which is why it was rejected entirely as heresy.

That and similar texts which suggest Jesus were made all seem to date several centuries after the four canoncial gospels and the establishment of Christianity. With the texts dating within the few decades after the death of Jesus, we have zero evidence he was married (to anyone). Personally, I view all the gospels written after John to be equivalent of fan fiction. Just because some bored housewife has written erotica involving Kirk and Spock doesn't mean they were lovers during the original episodes of Star Trek.

Was the idea of Mary Magdalene being a lover of Jesus even in the popular imagination before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi manuscripts in 1945? To be honest, I don't know - but I suspect not (although obviously there was a small group of people in the 5th century or so that wanted to believe so, but they were outside the mainstream of the Church).

Anyway, if Mary Magdalene is determined to be one of the disciples, this is likely to occur very early in the Christian Church. The ability of women to become priests and bishops will probably happen, but anything more has little basis.

Mary Magdalene completely disappears from scripture after she witnesses Jesus return from the dead. What happens to her afterwards is never mentioned. Given her obvious prominent role before that, it makes for easy speculation, but in the end we are left with no evidence on what kind of role she had in the early church. For her to become one of the apostles, the world would need a lot more evidence of her role in building the church so that her role in it can be considered a role model and example of the future.
 
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