The Real Mary: History vs Christmas Legend
Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman
Chris Huntley
4.8 • 745 Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ever wondered what Mary, the mother of Jesus, was really like—beyond the nativity scenes and stained glass? This week, Megan Lewis sits down with Dr. James Tabor to dig into the life of the "woman behind the Messiah," exploring surprising theories about Mary's origins, her possible royal and priestly lineage, and her true role in the earliest days of Christianity. Was she really just a humble villager—or something much more? Tune in for a lively conversation that blends historical detective work, ancient drama, and just a pinch of scholarly mischief to help you see Mary as you've never seen her before.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We talk a lot about Jesus on this podcast. Unsurprising, really, but what about his mother Mary? |
| 0:06.3 | She not only raised Jesus, but was a founding member of the early Christian movement. |
| 0:11.1 | Today I'm joined by Dr. James Tabor to talk about the woman behind the Messiah, what her life was like, and how she influenced the formation of Christianity. |
| 0:24.0 | Welcome to Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. |
| 0:27.3 | The only show, where a six-time New York Times best-selling author and world-renowned Bible scholar |
| 0:32.9 | uncovers the many fascinating, little-known facts about the New Testament, the historical Jesus, |
| 0:38.9 | and the rise of Christianity. I'm your host, Megan Lewis. Let's begin. |
| 0:46.9 | Hello again. Before we get started, I wanted to make sure you knew about the specials we're |
| 0:51.4 | running this December on all of our Christmas-themed courses. Highlights include a brand new course with Dr Jody Magnus, Herod, the Turrent of Christmas, |
| 1:00.5 | plus a new face-to-face on the Bible discussion asking, was Jesus really born in Bethlehem? |
| 1:06.0 | A lively conversation between Bart and Catholic apologist Jimmy Aiken. We're also offering up to 60% |
| 1:12.4 | of our Christmas courses with a limited time Christmas bundle. Head over to barterman.com |
| 1:18.3 | forward slash courses for all the holiday deals, good for December only. And as always, use the code |
| 1:24.7 | MJ podcast at checkout for a special discount. |
| 1:32.5 | Hello everybody and welcome back to the misquoting Jesus podcast. |
| 1:37.1 | Today I am interviewing Dr. James Tabor about the historic Mary. |
| 1:43.4 | Dr. Table retired in 2022 as a full-time professor from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, |
| 1:46.0 | where he taught Christian origins and ancient Judaism for 33 years, serving his chair for a decade. |
| 1:52.0 | He is currently a distinguished fellow in the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University at Jerusalem. |
| 1:57.0 | His most recent book, The Lost Mary, Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus, published in |
| 2:02.4 | September 2025 and attempts to uncover the historical Mary, a founding member of the early |
| 2:07.8 | Christian movement who has been systematically raised over the past 2,000 years. He's joining me today to |
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