There's no clear explicit evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or a sexually immoral woman.

There's no evidence of it at all. So you have to make a case for it rather than, I think, the other way around, even though that's been how the church has assumed it.

And what we want to better understand is what it would be like for her to have experienced this

demon oppression and what it means exegetically and theologically that a formerly demon

oppressed woman was the one to witness the resurrection.

Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of Theology.

My guest today is Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt, who has a PhD from St. Andrews University and is the Franklin Darnis Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College out there in Illinois.

She is the author of several books, including her most recent book.

Got it right here.

The Mary, we forgot what the apostle to the apostles teaches the church today.

So we're going to talk all about who was the real Mary Magdalene.

So please welcome this show for the first time, the one and only Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt.

Thanks, Jennifer, for being a guest on Theology and the Raw.

Really enjoying your book on Mary Magdalene.

So let's just begin with the question.

I know it's a big one, but who was and who wasn't Mary Magdalene according to the Bible?

Yes.

Okay.

So I love this question because it does invite us to think about how the church has shaped our understanding and reception of her.

And it drives us to go back to scripture to think more biblically about how she is

situated in the story, how the gospel writers highlight her presence and her role.

And it's also a response, I think, to the popular culture, which wants to stress

...