231: Mary Magdalene Revealed with Meggan Watterson

May 22

We are diving into deep juiciness today as we explore the topics covered in a new book. This book will challenge your thinking about traditional Christianity and religion, especially regarding the role of women in ancient times as spiritual authorities. Come explore this topic with today’s amazing guest!

Meggan Watterson is a feminist theologian with a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Divinity from Columbia University. She’s a teacher and writer who leads retreats and workshops on the Divine Feminine and The Soul-Voice Meditation. She is powerful and passionate about her love for Christianity, which wasn’t revealed to her until later in life. Meggan’s latest book is Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & the Christianity We Haven’t Tried Yet. The book explores the deep, rich history of women in early Christianity in a fascinating way.

Music Credit: My good friend Lindsay Katt – https://lindsaykatt.bandcamp.com/track/stick-by-me

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Show Highlights:

What it’s like to go through the writing process and the experience of putting it out there for others to read
How Meggan felt the pressure to write and the draw to this topic
How the gospel of Mary Magdalene was discovered and its history
How some people rebelled against the orders and preserved the early scriptures that were supposed to be destroyed
The fiction created by the church to dispel the role of women as significant spiritual authorities
The significance of Mary Magdalene’s role as the first one to see the resurrected Jesus
How Christianity’s unaddressed issues around sexuality were dumped on Mary Magdalene
The phenomenon of “an ancient hatred becoming a present love”
The demonization of feminism in our culture today
What Mary Magdalene’s gospel says about sin and the powers of humanity that exist within us
The seven powers vs. the ego
How Meggan felt “allergic” to traditional Christian understandings of forgiveness
How we can respond to others who need forgiveness, boundaries, or want to continue a relationship
How Meggan wrote the book to tell the stories of early women in Christianity, like Thecla, a fiery Turkish teenager who became a prominent first-century minister
The importance of turning inward in meditation, which is what Mary Magdalene’s gospel teaches us
The “nous,” the spiritual eye of the heart