Summary by Claude of Bart Ehrman’s post “Peter and Mary Magdalene Going Toe to Toe”
Main thesis – Ehrman argues that early Christianity preserved two competing traditions about who first saw the risen Jesus. In one, it is Mary Magdalene (and possibly other women). In the other, it is Peter (and other men). He sees the tension as reflected in a recurring pattern of stories that pit the two against each other over status.
The Gospel evidence for Mary
- Mark: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome find the tomb empty and are told by a young man to tell the disciples. They say nothing out of fear (Mark 16:8), and no appearance of Jesus is narrated.
- Matthew: Mary and “the other Mary” learn of the resurrection from an angel, then Jesus himself appears and commissions them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee. Ehrman reasons that they must have done so, since the disciples do go.
- John: Mary alone comes to the tomb and tells Peter and the beloved disciple. After they leave, Jesus appears to her, she recognizes him when he calls her name, and he commissions her to tell the others. For Ehrman, she is here “the first apostle.”
The Gospel and Pauline evidence for Peter
- Luke: There is no appearance to the women. The first appearance is to Simon (Peter), and the men dismiss the women’s report as an “idle story.”
- 1 Corinthians 15: In the earliest account, written fifteen or twenty years before the Gospels, Paul lists appearances to Cephas, the Twelve, the five hundred, James, all the apostles, and finally himself. He mentions no women, no empty tomb, and no appearance to any woman.
Why Paul’s silence matters (two proposed explanations)
- Stories about the women at the tomb may not have been widely circulating yet.
- Paul was assembling legal-style evidence, and women’s testimony would not be admissible in a Jewish court, so he listed only men.
Ehrman says either may be right, but “it’s hard to know.”
Later Peter-versus-Mary conflict
Ehrman points to a “steady stream” of texts showing Peter resenting Mary’s high standing with Jesus:
- Pistis Sophia: Peter complains that Mary does all the talking.
- Gospel of Thomas: Peter asks that Mary leave because “women are not worthy of life.”
- Gospel of Mary: Peter objects that Jesus would not have shared secret teachings privately with a woman rather than publicly with the men.
Conclusion
The rivalry, Ehrman suggests, goes back to the earliest traditions, some giving Peter priority as first witness to the resurrection and others giving it to Mary.
Note: The post is a lightly edited excerpt from his book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene, so it is written for a general audience and does not include footnotes or engage in detailed scholarly debate. I can help with a more critical analysis, such as how the Pauline “evidence” explanation is usually assessed, if that would be useful.
