“Mary puts us all to shame”

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines Martin Luther’s interpretation of Saint Mary Magdalene throughout his career, from his Psalms lectures of 1513 to his sermons on John’s Gospel in 1529. In particular, it will be argued that Luther both adopted and reshaped the exegetical tradition flowing from the twelfth-century theologian, Bernard of Clairvaux. The final result was a Reformation reading of the Magdalene that was neither fully medieval nor “Protestant” as the tradition would later develop. Luther’s journey with the saint thus illumines his ambiguous place in the history of biblical interpretation, as well as his fraught relationship to the medieval past.