Verlossing door verleiding: Maria Magdalena in preek 33 van Gregorius I

Abstract

The late antique pope Gregory the Great plays an important role in the discourse on the image of Mary Magdalene in the tradition of (Western) Christianity. Many publications, both scholarly and popular-scientific, claim that Gregory, by decree, would have established her identity, especially as a woman who was sinful sexually. A central source for this is his sermon 33 which, however, has been analyzed very little. Against the backdrop of this discourse on this pope and this saint, in a new analysis of this homily, this contribution examines Gregory’s treatment of Mary Magdalene’s identity and shows that both the view that he would have decreed something and that he associated Mary’s identity primarily with sinful sexuality are problematic. Eroticism instead plays a very different, positively notated role in the sermon, and the relationship between Mary and Jesus described in erotic terms is exemplified by Gregory’s audience, especially the men in it.