There’s Something about Mary Magdalene, with Elizabeth Schrader Polczer and Diana Butler Bass (S3:E1)

Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. Mary Magdalene is one of the most central women in the Christian tradition, yet we are gradually discovering that we may never have known her at all. In this episode Elizabeth Schrader Polczer and Diana Butler Bass talk about the implications of Polczer’s research on Mary Magdalene and what it means for our own moment in Christianity, as well as how these two scholars from radically different fields combined powers to get Mary’s story out there. All this and more on this episode of In Search Of. A transcript of this episode can be found here.

For further searching, check out these links:

• Listen to this previous episode of In Search Of with Elizabeth for more on her research. 
• Visit Diana’s website. 
• Visit Elizabeth’s website. 
• Read the transcript of Diana’s 2022 Wild Goose Festival sermon. 
• Check out Robin Griffith-Jones book on Mary Magdalene.
• Read Elizabeth’s article co-written with Joan Taylor.
• View Janet McKenzie’s icon of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
• Check out Oxyrhynchus 557.
• Learn more about Sara Coakley and kenosis.

And check out related content from the Christian Century: 

• “Signs of Mary Magdalene in John 11,” Amy Frykholm interviews Elizabeth Schrader Polczer (Nov 2023)
• “When and where did the resurrected Jesus first appear?” by Philip Jenkins (April 2023)
• “Was Mary Magdalene really from Magdala? Two scholars examine the evidence,” by Yonat Shimron (Feb 2022)
• “Diana Butler Bass’s love letter to Jesus,” Martin B. Copenhaver reviews Freeing Jesus by Diana Butler Bass (Nov 2021)
• “Mary, mother of Jesus, returns as an icon for pop stars and activists,” by Whitney Bauch (Aug 2021)

Is there something that you are in search of? Email us.