The Gospel of Mary is an apocryphal book discovered in 1896 in a 5th-century papyrus codex written in Sahidic Coptic. This Berlin Codex was purchased in Cairo by German diplomat Carl Reinhardt. Although the work is popularly known as the Gospel of Mary, it is not technically classed as a gospel by scholastic consensus because "the term'gospel' is used as a label for any written text, focused on recounting the teachings and/or activities of Jesus during his adult life"; the Berlin Codex known as the Akhmim Codex contains the Apocryphon of John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, a summary of the Act of Peter. All four works contained in the manuscript are written in the Sahidic dialect of Coptic. Two other fragments of the Gospel of Mary have been discovered. P. Oxy. L 3525 "... was in fact found by Grenfell and Hunt some time between 1897 and 1906, but only published in 1983," by P. J. Parsons; the two fragments were published in 1938 and 1983 and the Coptic translation was published in 1955 by Walter Till.

Most scholars agree. However, Hollis Professor of Divinity Karen King at Harvard Divinity School suggests that it was written during the time of Christ; the Gospel of Mary is not present in the list of apocryphal books of section five of the Decretum Gelasianum. Scholars do not always agree which of the New Testament people named Mary is the central character of the Gospel of Mary. Stephen J. Shoemaker and F. Stanley Jones have suggested. Barbara J. Silvertsen alternatively suggests that she may be a sister of Jesus - an individual, lost in history. Silvertsen notes that while none of the canonical Gospels identify Jesus' sisters by name, one of his sisters is identified as "Mary" in the Gospel of Philip. Arguments in favor of Mary Magdalene are based on her status as a known follower of Jesus, the tradition of being the first witness of his resurrection, her appearance in other early Christian writings, she is mentioned as accompanying Jesus on his journeys and is listed in the Gospel of Matthew as being present at his crucifixion.

In the Gospel of John, she is recorded as the first witness of Jesus' resurrection. Esther A. de Boer compares her role in other non-canonical texts, noting that "in the Gospel of Mary it is Peter, opposed to Mary’s words, because she is a woman. Peter has the same role in Pistis Sophia. In Pistis Sophia the Mary concerned is identified as Mary Magdalene." The final scene in the Gospel of Mary may provide evidence that Mary is indeed Mary Magdalene. Levi, in his defense of Mary and her teaching, tells Peter, "Surely the Savior knows her well; that is why he loved her more than us." In the Gospel of Philip, a similar statement is made about Mary Magdalene. King argues in favor of naming Mary Magdalene as the central figure in the Gospel of Mary, she summarizes: “It was the traditions of Mary as a woman, as an exemplary disciple, a witness to the ministry of Jesus, a visionary of the glorified Jesus, someone traditionally in contest with Peter, that made her the only figure who could play all the roles required to convey the messages and meanings of the Gospel of Mary.”Richard Valantasis writes in The Beliefnet Guide to Gnosticism and Other Vanished Christianities that the Mary here is Mary Magdalene.

Valantasis clarifies that this doesn’t “confirm an earthly marriage between her and Jesus — far from it — but it opens an incredible window into the intellectual and spiritual world of the second century C. E.” The idea that there would be a gospel from Mary Magdalene is “controversial,” however because Andrew objected to the strangeness of Mary’s revelations from Jesus. Peter argued, as Valantasis mentions, that “Jesus would not have revealed such important teachings to a woman,” and that “her stature cannot be greater than that of the male apostles." The most complete text of the Gospel of Mary is contained in the Berlin Codex, but so, it is missing six manuscript pages at the beginning of the document and four manuscript pages in the middle. As such, the narrative begins in the middle of a scene, leaving the setting and circumstances unclear. King believes, that references to the death of the Savior and the commissioning scene in the narrative indicate the setting in the first section of the text is a post resurrection appearance of the Savior.

As the narrative opens, the Savior is engaged in dialogue with his disciples, answering their questions on the nature of matter and the nature of sin. At the end of the discussion, the Savior departs leaving the disciples anxious. According to the story, Mary speaks up with words of encouragement. Peter asks Mary to share with them any special teaching she received from the Savior, “Peter said to Mary, ‘Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of the women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember—which you know we do not, nor have we heard them.’” Mary responds to Peter’s request by recounting a conversation she had with the Savior about visions. Said, "I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to him, ‘Lord, I saw you today in a vision.’" He answered and said to me: “Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure." I said to him, "So now, does a person who sees a vision see it <through> the soul <or> through the spirit?"

In the conversation, the Savior teaches that the inner self is composed of soul, spirit/mind, a third mind t

Cherie Bennett is an American novelist, director, newspaper columnist and television writer on the CBS Daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. The writing was not Bennett's early focus. Sometimes known as the "Big and Tall Barbie Doll", she attended Wayne State University, the University of Michigan in the early 1980s, as a musical theatre major, she worked as an actress, doing national musical tours, regional theatre productions including Mark Medoff's When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? and a well-reviewed turn in the off-Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton. She headed her own improv comedy trio and performed as a vocalist, singing backup for John Mellencamp and in her play, Honk Tonk Angels. Bennett's favourite non-writing activities are reading, theatre, cooking and Internet shopping, she lives in Los Angeles with her son. Her pseudonyms are C. J. Anders, Carrie Austen. For many years, she wrote with Jeff Gottesfeld, with whom she shared the Zoey Dean pseudonym.

She and Jeff are divorced. Her father was a writer for such shows as The Twilight Zone, Route 66, Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. Since June 2011, she's been the Artistic Director at Amusings Productions in Sherman Oaks; the Young and the Restless Script Writer: December 14, 2006 - December 21, 2007. Daytime Emmy: Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team, 2008 Macy's Prize For Playwriting: Reviving Ophelia, 2005–2006 Humanitas Award: Best children's film for television American Library Association: Best Books For Young Adults, 2005 nominee International Reading Association: Young Adult Readers' Choice, Anne Frank And Me, 2003 American Alliance of Theater And Education UPR, 2000 winner American Library Association: Best Books For Young Adults, 1999 Hachette Book Group USA: Bennett Publishers Weekly: Bennett Greenwich Times: Bennett's Column Smart Writers Interview TeenReads 2003 Interview