Karen King Discusses Mary Magdalene as a Leader in Early Christianity

February 4
40 mins

Episode Description

In this Bible and Beyond podcast episode, Shirley Paulson interviews Dr. Karen L. King, a prominent scholar of the early text, the Gospel of Mary. In this podcast, Shirley and Karen explore the portrayal of Mary Magdalene as a leader and the implications for women's roles in early Christianity. They also discuss themes of identity, the nature of sin, the journey of the soul, and the concept of the good in relation to ethical living. Dr. King's insights highlight the relevance of the ancient teachings in contemporary spiritual and social contexts.

Dr. Karen L. King is the Hollis Research Professor of Divinity, Harvard University's oldest endowed professorship (1721), and is the first woman to hold this chair. Her particular interests are in discourses of difference (orthodoxy and heresy), gender studies, and religion and violence. She completed her Ph.D. in History of Religions: Early Christianity at Brown University.  She also studied in Berlin at the Free University (West) and with the Koptisch-Gnostische Arbeitskreis (Coptic-Gnostic Working Group) at Humboldt University (East). She has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and research.

A written transcript is available on the show notes page here:

 https://earlychristiantexts.com/karen-king-mary-magdalene

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