Mary Magdalene Conspiracy

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Disseminating the Mary Magdalene Conspiracy Through Popular Mass Media
Introduction
Dan Brown’s novel and subsequent movie adaptation, The Da Vinci Code, entertains a large audience including those who enjoy “thrilling chase scenes, secret societies, and touristic” settings and find interest in “literary quality, [. . .] Christianity, but also the production of history” (Mexal 344, 354). While The Da Vinci Code engages with a vast network of conspiracy theories, Brown’s novel is the most well known source of a particular Christian conspiracy theory: Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and they had a child together.
First, I will narrate the Mary Magdalene conspiracy, emphasizing details that are relevant to this analysis. Next, using Sunstein and Vermeule’s definition of ‘conspiracy theory,’ I will explain how the Catholic Church’s role transforms the Mary Magdalene …show more content…

The Church continues to cover up the marriage due to the possible accusation of being usurpers. It was Peter, not Mary Magdalene, who continued the Church in Jesus’ name. The Catholic Church’s role as the arbiters of biblical truth would be endangered if they were supposed to follow the lead of a woman, considering their historical oppression of women. The recognition of Mary Magdalene’s true identity would be a critical gain for women but a loss for Jesus’ divinity.
Aronstein describes the Mary Magdalene conspiracy as the conspiracy theory that “exposed” the Church’s fabrication of history (Aronstein 114), a history that would continue the Church’s amassing of power. This conspiracy is special because it empowers groups whom the Church has actively tried to subdue: women and non-Christians (Drummond 68). The fall of the Catholic Church as an institution would create space for the rise of women and non-Christians.
Explaining the Spread: Mass Media

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