4 - The Cosmos and Its Undoing

Summary

The cosmic eschatology of the Gospel of Mary is the subject of Chapter 4, and it primarily examines the opening dialogue between Jesus and the disciples. I argue that the cosmology of the Gospel of Mary is simpler and more christocentric than has been assumed by past exegetes. This gospel shares the common Christian belief that matter is the raw material of a cosmos shaped by God. Matter has been affected by passions, which in turn affect the individual causing sin and death. Jesus, here called ‘the Good’, has come to dissolve/restore the cosmos to its original constituent parts. The Gospel of Mary stands in contrast to the ‘traditional’ expectation of a future parousia as found in the synoptic gospels, and actively contradicts this expectation by stating that ‘the Son of Man is within’. The make-up and dissolution of the cosmos is interpreted by using ideas already present in John and Paul.