He is easy to identify with. Unless you're a fisherman and then the others might be more so.




Indeed. And proceed.




I suspected as much.

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Of course there's debate about how often Mary appears in the gospels. Is she the "scarlet woman" who crashes a party to weep her remorse at Jesus' feet and dry his feet with her hair? Is she sister to Lazarus who waits for Jesus as Bethany? The gospels are overcrowded with Marys.

I've never understood the "how dare they suggest Mary Magdalene was a scarlet woman!" deal. It's kinda missing the whole point...

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I just dodged the issue.

Whimp!

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Likewise there's a lot of weight behind the dynastic implications. Mary is cousin to John the Baptist's mother, who is of the priestly caste. She's a descendant of King David, of royal blood - and so is Jesus' legal father Joseph. The modern gloss of a humble peasant girl doesn't do justice to the complexity of the situation. In some ways Mary is Cinderella, a queen waiting to be revealed.

That. Or she's also the Christianisation of Aphroditie, or the Earth Goddess, etc etc. Now that would be a challenge. Write Mary from a perspective of "she was just 'created' to keep the bloody pagans happy and alloow them to continue with their earth goddess celebrations."

I'd read it.

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From a writer's point of view I think the technical problem would be to properly present the cultural and historical information without it becoming a lecture or a sermon. Mary's own journey from confused girl on the brink of womanhood and marriage to an older man to the obedient vessel of God's blessing, then again to the older woman who nags Jesus for good and ill during his ministry and finally to the bereaved mother at the foot of the cross would be a tough one to render.

See I'm thinking of Catholic Mary. She's kinda infallible. I think from a writer's point of view it would be difficult to present her as having human type emotions of regret, anger, loss, fear, betrayal, etc. and have her remain this (let's face it) almost god-type creature herself.

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People here tend to be tolerant - or at least polite. The story's also gained a wider circulation and the other feedback is interesting.

Really?