The gospel starts off with Jesus talking with some of his followers and telling them about sins. He continues to tell his followers about the sin of adultery. After speaking for a while Jesus gets up and leaves and the people are left confused. Then comes Mary and they ask her about the words of the Savior. The rest of the story goes on with Mary explaining her talks with Jesus to the people. (Some of the pages are missing in the middle). Near the end two of the followers question Mary about whether these were truly the words of the Savior or not. Peter continues to ask, "Has the Savior spoken secretly to a woman and not openly so that we would all hear?" This shows their concern as to why the Savior would share all this with a woman and not his male followers. In the end Levi comes up and tells them that they shouldn't have doubts about the Savior, rather they should go out and convey his message.

Question

I believe that Jesus’ character in the Gospel of Mary fits Eliade’s definition of ‘religious man’ quite well. Mircea Eliade believes that religious man is someone, for whom anything in nature could be a result of a religious experience or a religious symbol. The way Jesus tells Mary about the visions coming from the soul and the way he tells his followers about the sins of the world, his character fits in to that of the ‘religious man’ that Eliade speaks so often about. Likewise, the place where he stays to talk to his companions and give them advice could be known as his ‘sacred space’.

Showing how much the followers of the Savior cared about him and how much his opinion mattered to them is the message that this piece is trying to get through. Constantly questioning him and even asking Mary for any information on what the Savior has told her shows that they are really concerned about Jesus and the advice that he has to give them.

I need help expanding my 2nd paragraph..I'm supposed to compare the gospel of Mary to another text. So I'm comparing it to Eliade's 'the sacred and the profane'. But I need to write some more onthat. are there any other points that I can compare.?

Answer 1

These sites may help you.

http://www.bytrent.demon.co.uk/eliadecom02.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade

Answer 2

Thankyou, but I already searched both of those web sites thoroughly..I was actually looking for some extra help.
Thanks though