A scholarly revelation: the Gospel of Mary

Fragments from the past can transform our reading of history. Christians adopted the Greek translation of Jewish scriptures (Septuagint) as their Old Testament, and in time, their compilation of gospels, letters and other works formed the New Testament. Early Christians debated which texts should and should not be included in the New Testament. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, giving an account of the life and sayings of Jesus, were accepted. Others such as the so-called Gospel of Mary were not. Roberta Mazza, Research Fellow of the John Rylands Research Institute, University of Manchester explains the survival of such texts only in Egypt and the role of Mary, probably Mary Magdalene, in this ‘lost gospel’ in which a woman is shown in a role of spiritual leadership.
Egypt: faith after the pharaohs
29 October 2015 - 7 February 2016
Find out more and book tickets:
www.britishmuseum.org/egypt
Generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation