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What Does Mary "Magdalene" Even Mean?

ReligionForBreakfast

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Thumbnail: Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo’s Mary Magdalene, painted around 1535–1540.

Was Mary Magdalene really from a town called Magdala? We examine the archaeology, Greek and Aramaic, and ancient Christian writers to ask whether “Magdalene” meant a hometown, a nickname, “the Tower,” or “the Magnified One.”

00:00 Magdala Introduced
2:31 Who was Mary Magdalene?
3:50 The Hometown Theory
10:15 The Nickname Theory

20 Comments

@ReligionForBreakfast Creator 2 weeks ago Pinned

@kiltedjade 2 weeks ago

I like to think she was nicknamed tower because she was 6'3".

@PureNeptune 2 weeks ago

maybe she was just toweringly tall

@Xenite 2 weeks ago

I was totally convinced and then I heard the other side and was like, wayminit.

@jackdelvo2702 12 days ago (edited)

As Jesus named Peter his rock Mary he may have named his tower.

@Skedazzle 2 weeks ago

Thinking of the function of a tower in an ancient city, the nickname of the tower might mean she saw something coming first? As in she was the first to see the resurrection?

@alexandercolefield9523 2 weeks ago

Mary of Fishtown

@aaron_on_the_side_of_caution 2 weeks ago

Growing up in a church that prided itself on biblical literacy, it never ceases to amaze me how much I didn’t and still don’t know about the Bible. It’s a complicated text to say the least…

@robinloveshobama 7 days ago

13:02 it's honestly so badass to be the first source in this context and then be called Origen

@leaf742 2 weeks ago

The Rock
The Thunder Brothers
Mary “The Tower”

Jesus “the Messiah” was creating a pro wrestling stable that was running rampant through Roman Palestine and then a work turned into a shoot and he died young like most wrestlers but was the shoot crucifixion actually a work? The dirt sheets have him making a surprise return!

@JasTheMadTexan 2 weeks ago

What if the Tower was a joke about her height? Like maybe she was tall like a tower or conversely what if she was particularly short and Mary the Tower was an ironic nickname

@Caseyuptobat 2 weeks ago (edited)

Maryam from Migdal Sabaya, known to her bilingual friends as "Magdalene" on account of Oily Josh's ministry being rather afield of where she's from in terms of mere foot and donkey based travel.

"Oh, we're handing out nicknames, and you're from California? Okay, Hollywood."

@yt_geezuz785 13 days ago

Sons of Thunder sounds like a Metal band.

@lisastratton3869 13 days ago

Suddenly contemplating the potential significance of the name James Tiberius Kirk, because that just the kind of Religious Studies nerd I am.

@justfeelingirie 2 weeks ago

Mary of Garum-ville woulda been dope

@_NotImportant 2 weeks ago

I am impressed nobody made the joke of assuming Mary was 7 foot and towering over everybody.

@CliffNickerson 2 weeks ago

[6:25] I lived in a Brazilian city creatively named "Springwater Springs"

@alidzznuts 13 days ago

As a native of the region, I've had many friends who their nicknames were also just where they're from. For example, I know two guys that introduced themselves as Gizawi and Qalyubi and those were their nicknames but they came about from people referring to them at a younger age by the hometown, Gizawi just means from Giza, and Qalyubi means from Al Qalyubia both In Egypt. So i'm inclined towards the hometown theory