Mary Magdalene, Philo of Alexandria, and Plato?

Is it possible that Mary Magdalene discussed theology, philosophy, and Plato with Philo of Alexandria?

The Library of Alexandria https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Library_of_Alexandria_(sepia).jpg

The Gospels present Mary Magdala as a devoted disciple, prominent patron, and apostle to the apostles. She is named about a dozen times in the Gospels, more than most of the male apostles, but after the Gospels, the last possible mention of her is when Jesus appears to women at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). I have previously written about where Apostle Mary Magdalene may have gone on her mission journeys [1]. Those who conflate Mary Magdalene with Martha's sister teach that Mary Magdalene died in the south of France. I have previously written about the Gospel of Mary and the possibility that Mary Magdalene went to Alexandria [2]. She may have travelled between Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Ephesus. The 2nd-century Gospel of Mary, found in Egypt, shows Mary Magdalene had many followers and was a visionary teacher filled with wisdom and knowledge.

What might Mary Magdalene have done in Alexandria? Did she meet Philo of Alexandria and discuss philosophy and theology?

This article was first published by Mago Books and RTME (Return to Mago E-Magazine).

“Mary Magdalene and Philo were contemporaries, both Jewish, both passionate about studying theology and philosophy.”

Is it possible that Mary Magdalene went to Alexandria and discussed theology, philosophy, and Plato with contemporaries in Egypt? Dr Joanna Kujawa has previously written about the possibility that Mary Magdalene, a leading or favoured disciple of Jesus, went to Alexandria. Kujawa notes that Alexandria would have been a welcoming place for a female philosopher and visionary seeking wisdom, such as Mary Magdalene [3].

Is it Possible that Mary Magdalene met Philo of Alexandria in Rome?

The Thinker, sculpted by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Thinker_MET_131257.jpg

Philo of Alexandria, a prominent Jewish philosopher, theologian, and diplomat, led a delegation to Rome in 40 CE [4]. Philo’s delegation asked Emperor Caligula to address the persecution of Jews. Imperial cult worshippers and Greeks were oppressing Jews. While Philo’s writings do not mention Jesus, Christian Jews challenged traditional Jews.

Philo wrote that Emperor Caligula mocked the Jews and their beliefs and encouraged Greeks to place imperial cult statues in Jewish synagogues. In the fall of AD 40, Caligula announced that he would move to Alexandria and rule the Roman Empire from there as a divine monarch and Roman Pharaoh. Caligula was assassinated on 24 January AD 41.

According to the Acts of Pilate, Mary Magdalene went to Rome to testify before Emperor Tiberius [5]. The Orthodox Church states that Mary Magdalene went to Rome before the AD 37 death of Emperor Tiberius and worked hard for the church in Rome [6]. Mary Magdalene may have met Philo when he came to Rome and returned with him to the great city of learning. She may have had a higher education and social status to have the wealth and freedom to travel as a patron of Jesus [7],

The Sitting Woman of Cernavoda was sculpted in the Neolithic Hamangia culture, about 5000 BC. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bucharest_-_The_Sitting_Woman_of_Cernavoda_-_no_bg.png

Since Neolithic times, women have been thinkers and philosophers. The Sitting Woman of Cernavoda, depicting a female philosopher, was sculpted about 5000 BC [8]. Women have been depicted as thinkers and philosophers for millennia.

Demaris was a high-status, well-educated Gentile woman who debated philosophy and theology in Athens (Acts 17:34). Philo wrote about women philosophers in first-century Alexandria [9]. The Therapeutae were a community of women and men who worked as equals, studying philosophy, theology, and medicine. Most of them chose celibacy for the pursuit of wisdom. Mary Magdalene also appears to have chosen the pursuit of wisdom over the pursuit of romance.

The Gospel of Mary, discovered in Egypt, presents Mary Magdalene as a visionary with wisdom and knowledge, a spiritual teacher and leader with many followers.

Mary Magdalene and Philo were contemporaries, both Jewish, both passionate about studying theology and philosophy.

Let's look at how Plato, the Greek philosopher, may have influenced Philo of Alexandria, Christian New Testament Writers, and Mary Magdalene.

Plato and Philo of Alexandria: A Jewish Understanding

Philo of Alexandria Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mural_depicting_Philo_of_Alexandria_on_November_1,_2022.jpg

Plato’s ideas influenced both Jewish and Christian thinking [10]. Plato suggested two originating forces: a world of perfect forms and a subordinate artisan or craftsman. He proposed that the earth was an imperfect shadow of the eternal world of perfect forms. Plato viewed logos as an orderly structure, pattern, or knowledge that the artisan used to form the world. To Plato, in the beginning was Logos: the world of perfect forms.

Philo, a Jewish scholar, believed in one originating force: God. Philo interpreted Jewish scriptures through Plato's thinking. Philo combined Plato’s two forces into one by showing Plato’s world of perfect forms in God’s mind, and Plato’s artisan in God’s actions. Philo understood God as the source of both the perfect forms and the imperfect world. To Philo, in the beginning was Logos, the blueprint in God’s mind, the Torah.

Plato and New Testament Writers: A Male Christian Understanding

New Testament writers referred to the familiar concept of Plato’s shadow world when they described our world as a shadow of what is in heaven [11].

“…who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5 NASB)

“…things which are only a shadow of what is to come” (Colossians 2:17 NASB)

“for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12 NASB)

John uses Plato’s ideas when he suggests that God’s blueprint is put into action by God’s Word. John’s Gospel opens with the statement that the Word existed in the beginning, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word participated in creating all things and in bringing light and life (John 1:1-5). To John, in the beginning was Logos: God’s Word, Jesus Christ.

Plato and Mary Magdalene: A Female Christian Understanding

While Plato presented a dualism, he argued that the differences between men and women did not justify unequal treatment, and he proposed that women should receive the same education and training as men [12]. Gnostics portrayed dualism as a hierarchy: knowledge over faith, spirit over matter, and male over female. James Bean contrasts the Gnostic view with the Gospel of Mary, which presents no hierarchy: one God, and a unity of soul and body, of male and female [13]. We are all one body, connected by one Spirit.

Plato taught that truth can be found within us, rather than in the world. Philo suggested the anticipated Jewish Messiah would be a spiritual leader, despite most Jews expecting a militant deliverer. Mary Magdalene also understood Jesus as a spiritual Messiah. Jesus lived to show us the way to reorient our lives to God's way. In the Gospel of Mary, she teaches the disciples to focus on inner transformation rather than on external religious or moral laws. When they debate whether Jesus gave her a special revelation, Matthew defends her, and in his Gospel (Matthew 5), he contrasts a person's internal intent with their external observance of the laws.

Karen L. King, Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, states that early Christianity existed with pluralistic forms of faith. The Gospels in the Bible build on Jewish laws and prophecies, whereas the Gospel of Mary illustrates Greek forms of Christianity [14].

The concepts of rebellion, condemnation, repentance, and forgiveness may have resonated with Jewish Christians, while elements of mysticism and philosophy may have resonated with Greeks.

Despite its elements of Plato, the Gospel of Mary insists that salvation comes through the teachings of Jesus. It states, "That's why the Good came among you, up to the things of every nature, in order to restore it within its root" [15]. It's not about outward obedience but about getting at the heart, seeking within for the divine spark of Wisdom (Sophia in Greek), and reconnecting with the Spirit for inner transformation. King writes that the Gospel of Mary provides:

Karen L. King, author of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle, writes that the Gospel of Mary provides:

an intriguing glimpse into a kind of Christianity lost for almost fifteen hundred years...[it] presents a radical interpretation of Jesus' teachings as a path to inner spiritual knowledge; it rejects His suffering and death as the path to eternal life... [16].

Mary uses Plato’s ideas when she combines God’s Wisdom with God’s liberation. Wisdom-Sophia was with God in the beginning (Proverbs 8:22-23), she was beside him like a master artisan (Proverbs 8:30), and she brings life (Proverbs 4:21-23). Jesus modelled how to attune to the divine spark within us, Wisdom, and experience inner transformation. To Mary Magdalene, in the beginning was Logos: Wisdom, the divine spirit within each of us.

Conclusion: A Spiritual Transformation

Plato’s ideas are evident in Philo’s Jewish interpretations, in Christian New Testament writing, and in the Gospel of Mary. I like to imagine Mary Magdalene, respected among the male and female thinkers in first-century Alexandria, sharing her vision and teaching all people to seek the divine spark that connects us, and to follow the Way of love, service, and kindness to all.

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Imagine it with my Historical Fiction

The She Thinker by Mica Stajcic

In Finding Her Voice, from Broken to Bold: Acts of Early Female Apostles: A Novel, I imagine Mary Magdalene meeting Philo of Alexandria when he visits Rome. Perhaps she and other Christian Jews hosted Philo and his delegation. I imagine her travelling with Philo to Egypt, the place where the Gospel of Mary was discovered in 1896. Philo's writings confirm there were women philosophers in Alexandria in the first century, and it seems possible that Mary Magdalene was among them. Just as Plato's thoughts influenced Philo's understanding of scripture, and likely influenced New Testament writers, Plato may also have influenced the writers of the Gospel of Mary. My fiction shows Mary Magdalene as a prominent patron and disciple, a reliable witness to Jesus's life, and an apostle who receives visions from God and a model woman leader in the early church.

Elaine Ricker Kelly Author is empowering women with historical fiction about women in the Bible and early church and Christian blogs about women in leadership, church history and doctrine. Her books include:

• Forgotten Followers from Broken to Bold, Book 1, A Novel (2022)

• The Sword: A Fun Way to Engage in Healthy Debate on What the Bible Says About a Woman's Role (2023)

• Because She Was Called from Broken to Bold, Book 2, A Novel of the Early Church (2024)

• Walk with Mara on Her Healing Journey: 21 Steps to Emotional Resilience (2024)

• Finding Her Voice from Broken to Bold, Book 3, Acts of Early Female Apostles: A Novel (2025)

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Sources:

1. Elaine Kelly, May 14, 2025, https://www.elainekelly.ca/post/apostle-mary-magdalene-s-missionary-journeys 

2. Elaine Kelly, February 10, 2026 https://www.elainekelly.ca/post/does-the-gospel-of-mary-confirm-that-mary-magdalene-went-to-alexandria

3. Joanna Kujawa, "(Essay 2) In the Footsteps of Mary Magdalene: Alexandria", Return to Mago E-Magazine, February 18, 2020, https://www.magoism.net/2020/02/essay-2-in-the-footsteps-of-mary-magdalene-alexandria-by-dr-joanna-kujawa/,

4. “Philo”, The Roman Empire in the First Century, PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, Accessed May 3, 2025, https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/philo.html.

5. Kirby, Peter. “Gospel of Nicodemus: Acts of Pilate” Early Christian Writings, Accessed May 3, 2025 https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/gospelnicodemus-roberts.html#google_vignette

6. Archimandrite Makary (Veretennikov), “Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene.” OrthoChristian.Com, Alpha and Omega magazine, 4 Aug. 2022, https://orthochristian.com/122857.html

7. Alon Bernstein, Isaac Scharf, “Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute but a devoted disciple who supported Jesus financially and spiritually, scholars say”, Independent, 1 April 2019, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mary-magdalene-feminism-metoo-jesus-disciples-apostle-christianity-judaism-pope-francis-vatican-a8281731.html

8. The Sitting Woman of Cernavoda. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bucharest_-_The_Sitting_Woman_of_Cernavoda_-_no_bg.png

9. Joan E. Taylor and David M. Hay, “Philo of Alexandria ‘On the contemplative life’: introduction, translation, and commentary”, Brill, 2020, Book Reviewed by Pieter van der Horst, Bryn Mawr Classical Review, November 8, 2021, https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2021/2021.11.08/

10. Rabbi Joshua Garroway, “Inside the Mind of God: Plato’s Influence on Ancient Judaism and Christianity,” CSP – Community Scholar Program, April 8, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ViX2tKpQ8g&t=1573s

11. Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.

12. “Plato’s Progressive Views on Women and Guardianship”, Classical Political Philosophy, PolSci Institute, July 29, 2025, https://polsci.institute/classical-political-philosophy/plato-views-women-guardianship/

13. James Bean, “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is Not a Gnostic Gospel”, Medium, August 11, 2021, https://sant-mat.medium.com/the-gospel-of-mary-magdalene-is-not-a-gnostic-gospel-7be69111d394

14. Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur, “The Gospel of Mary of Magdala by Karen L. King, 2022, EBSCO, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/gospel-mary-magdala-karen-l-king

15. Mark M. Mattison, “The Gospel of Mary”, November 17, 2023, Gospels.Net, https://www.gospels.net/mary 

16. "Gospel of Mary", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mary. last updated 17 December 2025, quoting from Karen L. King, "The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle", (Introduction p. 3), Polebridge Press, 2003