Whatever happened to the wholesome Jesus who just hung around with prostitutes?

by gonzo | October 13, 2007 at 12:25 pm | 990 views | 4 comments

The Catholic League has gotten its knickers in a knot about the organizers of the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco.  Apparently they don't like the fact that the last supper is being depicted as a place where you might find a giant fist shaped dildo. 

Seated at and standing behind a long table, Last Supper-style, are a set of men and women in various stages of leather dress/undress, including a man wearing a black dog mask. Sex toys, including a big red fist, are strewn across the table.

The group is organizing a boycott of the product.  But Jesus himself is famous for hanging out with sexual deviants and the outcasts of his time.  Mary Magdelene is the most famous example:
Mary Magdalene is often referred to as a prostitute, but she was never called one in the New Testament.

 
Jeffrey Kripal, a religion scholar, wrote, "Migdal was a fishing town known, or so the legend goes, for its perhaps punning connection to hairdressers (medgaddlela) and women of questionable reputation. This is as close as we get to any clear evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute". According to Kripal, the identification of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute also goes back to the above mentioned sermon by Pope Gregory.

 
In this sermon, Gregory identified Mary as peccatrix, a sinful woman, using her as a model for the repentant sinner, but he did not call her meretrix, a prostitute.

 
...This viewpoint is also espoused by much Western medieval Christian art. In many, if not most, medieval depictions, Mary Magdalene is shown as having long red hair, which she wears down over her shoulders. This was generally taken to be a sign of sexual impropriety in women at the time. The other women of the New Testament, in these same depictions, ordinarily have dark hair that is kept beneath a scarf. This disparity between depictions of women can be seen in works such as the Crucifixion paintings by the Meister des Marienlebens.


Add a comment Comments (4)

jordan

Wasn't Mary Magdalene only "recently" (in terms of Bible editions) depicted as a prostitute? I realize that this is slightly off-topic, but still tangentially related...

Barry Artiste

I believe Jordan is right, beside it is a well know biblical rumour and innuendo that Mohammed frustrated by Jesus getting all that Jewish Singles Women action, devised a story to take away Jesus's thunder, by Mohammed inventing the old "1,000 virgins in paradise miracle" to gain his flocks attention.  A miracle, because Mohammed  preferred Nancy Boys. Hey you can't make this stuff up, read a book! As for Moses, well apparently after walking the desert for 40 years he couldn't find a single Jewish Women's bar anywhere, apparently Jesus moved it by Buddha's house by then.  Text messaging not being invented then, resulted in Moses not getting the email.  Who says Jesus didn't have a sense of humour.

I'll certainly burn in hell over this one.

Agata

What all this rubbish is about? Maybe you'll say some more dirty things to promote you article: adult toys, porn? - sounds loudly near such words as Bible or Jesus...

You wonder why Mary Magdalene wasn't never called a prostitute in the New Testament, but always Saint? I'd answer you: because Gog always judges hearts, but not deeds and behavior... That's Christian indulgence religion....



Barry Artiste

Well as you so aptly put it  your  "Gog may judge Hearts", but the Bible states "God judges Deeds" as well, hence why bother writing the 10 Commandments "10 Deeds and Behaviours to Live by".   Anyways I am sure Ned "Godboy" Flanders would disagree with you!

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October 13, 2007 at 12:25 pm by gonzo, 990 views, 4 comments

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