Who is Mary Magdalene?
After all the legends and fictions have sprung up, what can we really say about the historical Mary Magdalene?
Though it must be granted she is mostly lost to us, we can say a few things.
For example, we can say that she was Jewish. There is a consensus among scholars about that. Afterall, she was known in the Bible as Mary of Magdala (the Jewish name for the town) rather than as Mary of Tarichea (the Greek name of her town). And in the Gospel of John, she is speaking Hebrew - or Palestinian Aramaic - in her garden encounter with Jesus.
We can say she would have been known to her contemporaries as “Mariam,” rather than “Mary.” The name “Mariam” would have been associated among Jewish Christians with the ancient prophet Miriam. Actually, the two names, “Mariam” and ”Miriam” are equivalent: the name “Mariam” was used in the Greco-Roman world and “Miriam” in the ancient Hebew world.
You may prefer to refer to her as “Mariam” of Magdala and thus accent her Jewishness. Or, in the light of the recent film and book, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, you may prefer to call her Mariamne. Mariamne is the name given to the woman apostle that travels with Philip and Bartholomew in the Acts of Philip. (Mary Magdalene is referred variously in ancient texts as Maria, Mariamne, Mariamme, and Mariam.)
It’s important for us Westerners to move beyond our Eurocentricity. “Mary” is the Latin rendering of her name and keeps us stuck in a Western mind-set. Besides, there are so many “Marys” in the Bible and using both “Mariam” (Mariamne, Mariamme) and “the Magdalene” help us distinguish her from other women in the Bible.
Or, you may prefer to refer to her as “the Magdalene,” which is part of her name and historical identity and an acknowledgement of her as a person in her own right.
It’s generally understood that “Magdalene” refers to a particular place, presumably her birthplace, probably Magdala on the banks of the Sea of Galilee and a town of cross-cultural currents. [Recently the Episcopal Bishop Song in The Sins of the Scriptures has suggested that there is no such place as Magdala on the grounds that no one has been able to locate it, but most scholars of Magdalene studies, de Boer, King, Schaberg generally accept “Magdalene’ to refer to her birthplace in Magdala.]
We can also say that there is ”very little” about her in the Bible, and yet “so much.”
So “little” in the sense that we know nothing of her early life in Magdala, nothing of her call to the ministry of Jesus, nothing about her until she appears, as though out of the blue, at the cross and burial and resurrection. The Bible doesn’t mention her house in Magdala, or her family, as it mentions that of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany. There’s no recorded early meeting of Jesus and Mary Magdalene: the only information about her early life is the brief and tantalizing remark by Luke that Jesus cured her of seven demons.
And yet there is “so much” about her in the sense of her significance to the resurrection and the Christian tradition. In the Gospel of John she has a visionary and prophetic experience of the risen Christ at the place of the tomb. She expresses that she has “seen” the Lord. She is given a preaching commission in the experience like the commissions given to the twelve apostles who also say they have “seen” the Lord. Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus, that led him to develop communities across the Roman world, is akin to that of the Magdalene in the garden. Paul’s experience led him to call himself an apostle, and our present acknowledgement of the Magdalene’s call give us reason to call her an apostle, too. Today, we understand that Mary Magdalene was a Jewish visionary and prophet and apostle of the risen Christ.
And when we become acquainted with the new discovered manuscripts in our time, we find confirmation regarding her importance in the developing Christian communities.
In the Gospel of Mary, written in the first part of the second century in either Syria, Asia Minor, or Egypt, she plays a central role as an apostle of visionary and mystical experience after Jesus’ departure. She is counted “worthy” and helps assure the other disciples not to be afraid. She is a reconciling presence in the face of conflict within the community.
And in a later extraBiblical text, entitled the Pistis Sophia, we have a clue as to how she was remembered in the third century in Egypt. In this text, Jesus encourages her to speak “openly.” Here the Greek word parresia is used; its meaning is to speak “boldly” and with “courage” and “confidence” and “joyfulness” and “fearlessness.” This kind of speaking that Jesus encourages in her is a speaking in the Spirit that is a gift for public ministry.
These new documents, whose study is now in its infancy, may unlock other doors into how the Magdalene was remembered in the early centuries. But for now, we can say that she was a Jewish visonary, prophet and apostle, and a beloved companion of Jesus, who followed Jesus from Magdala near the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem. We can say that the community of the Gospel of John recorded a trace of her having been given a preaching commission in the garden outside the tomb. She was the first witness to the resurrection. We can say that in the first and second centuries she was remembered in some communities, especially those in Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt as a spiritual guide and leader carrying the message of Jesus. 
Mariamne
