Mary Magdalene is one of those figures in the Bible who tradition has ended up confusing a bit, thanks to the fact that there are so many Marys in the New Testament. For a while, she was associated with both Mary the sister of Martha and with the woman caught in adultery, but has since been claimed as a separate individual from both of these figures (and given her own feast day distinct from the feast of Saints Mary and Martha). The contemporary tendency to try to make her an equal to the apostles is likely to be as inaccurate as those other associations with her, but is also a bit of a necessary corrective. I guess that’s one of the nice things about the fluidity of tradition vs dogma.
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