Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-12
LIBEL OF MARY MAGDALENE.
History, Drama and Agencies of Phil
RnthrOpy at Fault.

History, Drama and Agencies of Phil
RnthrOpy at Fault.
Rev. James II. Ross in Leslie's Weekly.
The production Of Paul Heyse's drama,
MARY Of Magdala," by Mrs. Fiske, at the
Manhattan theater, New York City, which
Is to be reproduced throughout the country,
gives color and form to an inveterate his
torical error, which never has been sue
cessfully eliminated from the popular mind
and probably never will be, although Mary
Magdalene is one of the Marys Of the New
Testament. Magdala was the city or town
in which she lived. II she were a woman
of today, conspicuous in the place Of her
residence, she might be designated MARY
the Albanian" or Trojan" according to
the name of the city. Obviously, there is
no designation Of character in such a term.
And yet "a Magdalene' is the acquired
name Of an abandoned woman, and the
derivative is supposed to have its historic
origin in the name, place of residence and
moral character OF the primitive Christian
woman out of whom seven devils (or de-
mons) went, who stood under the cross
and over against the tomb OF Jesus, who
saw the empty tomb of the risen Jesus, and
told Peter and John what He had said unto
her. The libel on her fair name is due
to the misinterpretation of her malady,
demon or devil possession. Whatever IL
was, It was not vice. The deliverance was
in accordance with the case. She was a
victim Of that, the cure of which was n
| physical, mental and spiritual experience.
She was de-demonized. Whatever the de-
monized state was, deliverance from it was
curative.
The subject in the gospels of the New
Testament is characterized in the terms
OF materia medica, not of vice and crime.
The consideration Of the subject leads us
into the realm of Jewish beliefs about
demonoiogy, but not into the realm covered
by the history of sexual vice. The difh-
Guilty has been that the phrase seven
devils has been taken as a Hebraism for
peculiar sinfulness. II correct, Mary Mag
dalene would need to be considered as the
incarnation OF numerous vices and crimea,
| not merely as the embodiment Of a single
sin. Geike, in his Life and Words of
Christ (Vol. II, page 624), says: at is
contrary to the whole tenor of the New
Testament to understand the seven devils
as a mere figure Of speech. The
great body OF scholars reject the idea OF
Mary having been a Magdalene." The
correct historic method would have been
to attach her name. to medical institutions,
to hospitals, sanitariums, and the like.
But it has been given, Willingly and un>
Willingly, to the malodorous haunts Of vice
and the institutions for rescue and reform.
History, art, the drama, the haunts of evil,
and the agencies Of philanthropy, alike
have libeled the character Of Mary Mag
dalene, and there is little or no hope that
this great historic injustice will be cor
| rected. The Twentieth centuly and the
metropolis of this country and great popu-
lar audiences persist in perpetuating an
accusation which, II Mary Magdalene were
living, would give her right Of action In
the courts, the verdict Of a Judge or jury,
and heavy damages. The utmost that could
be claimed in defense would be circum-
stantial evidence.
In the case In mind, 1t is the author Who
is primarily to blame. The actress ac-
cepts what is given to her and uses II.
! Fiction is conceded a liberty amounting to
license, yet IL IS to be remembered that In
our own country and time the authors who
have used the names Of living persons in
works OF fiction have been legally and sue
cessfully prosecuted. The period beyond
which some cases are outlawed is short,
very short. Nevertheless, there will never
be a time when IL will not be becoming
to restore to Mary Magdalene her good
name, and to appeal to authors and actors
to have somc regard for their own reputa>
tion as scholars.