Amy: Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy! I’m Amy McPhie Allebest. This week we are inserting an episode out of chronological order. That’s a first for us on the podcast. Our essential text this week is The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, which was written in the first century of the Common Era, meaning after Jesus Christ, and so it belongs earlier on our reading list right after our discussion of the Virgin Mary. After I recorded that episode on the Virgin Mary and Early Christianity, I realized that we had missed some important parts of the historical story and I heard back from some readers who—or some listeners, rather—that said, “well Amy you said that there isn’t really a book of Mary, so we didn’t know what Mary thought or said, but what about the Gospel of Mary Magdalene?” And so, that was such an important piece that I had left out, and so I was thinking about how to incorporate that and thought maybe I would do an addendum to that episode, but when I found the most incredible reading partner to read this text with me, I knew we had to do it right now even though it’s out of order, and we’ll just stick it in. So next week we’ll resume with the nineteenth century texts, where we were. But for today we’re gonna get our heads back into the various accounts of what happened during the life of Jesus Christ, and we’ll consider how it would feel to have a record that we knew was written by, or about, a woman. And we’re also going to talk about who determined which accounts made it into the Bible that people read today, and here’s a hint: it was not women making those decisions. Surprise, surprise. So, with all that as our introduction to guide us on that journey today, I am just thrilled to welcome the scholar, musician, composer, and poet and Renaissance woman Dr. Kayleen Asbo. Welcome, Kayleen.
Kayleen: Oh thank you Amy, it’s such a pleasure to be with you on this, such an important topic.
Amy: I’m so excited. I remember, Kayleen, the first time I met you was at Stanford. I hadn’t started my Master’s program yet, I was taking that Continuing Studies course from Professor Bruce Elliott, whom I adore, and you gave a lecture on Classical music in the Catholic tradition as compared to the Protestant tradition, and I was just so blown away by you that I signed up for your email list. And I do not sign up for email lists—I do not like getting things in my inbox. But I read it every week! I feel like it’s the most nourishing thing I read during my week, and I’ve watched your lectures, I attended a retreat with my daughters that we were just talking about, and I’m just so grateful for your work. And, I wonder if you could just start us out today by telling us a little bit about yourself: personally, where you’re from, and your education and your passions, and just kind of your perspective that you bring to the text.
Kayleen: Oh, sure. You know, I actually think that the place I have to begin is actually before I was born, because my parents met each other as students in a class on comparative religion. And, they were the only two non-Mormons at the University of Utah in this particular class, and my father was debating on one side of issues. He was a very eclectic spiritual seeker, I think that’s a generous way to put it, everything from Native American shamanism to different world cultures. My mother was a very—at the time, a very sort of proper Presbyterian. And so I like to say they came from opposite sides, but they were both on their own spiritual quest, and ultimately, neither one of them found the kind of nourishment that they were hungry for within any kind of institutional religion. And they divorced by the time I was two, but I like to think that in the mythic story of my life, a lot of what my life has been dedicated to is trying to find the bridge—the tent that’s large enough, that could nourish enough people that no matter where you come from, you could find something that would speak and nourish your...
Kayleen: Oh thank you Amy, it’s such a pleasure to be with you on this, such an important topic.
Amy: I’m so excited. I remember, Kayleen, the first time I met you was at Stanford. I hadn’t started my Master’s program yet, I was taking that Continuing Studies course from Professor Bruce Elliott, whom I adore, and you gave a lecture on Classical music in the Catholic tradition as compared to the Protestant tradition, and I was just so blown away by you that I signed up for your email list. And I do not sign up for email lists—I do not like getting things in my inbox. But I read it every week! I feel like it’s the most nourishing thing I read during my week, and I’ve watched your lectures, I attended a retreat with my daughters that we were just talking about, and I’m just so grateful for your work. And, I wonder if you could just start us out today by telling us a little bit about yourself: personally, where you’re from, and your education and your passions, and just kind of your perspective that you bring to the text.
Kayleen: Oh, sure. You know, I actually think that the place I have to begin is actually before I was born, because my parents met each other as students in a class on comparative religion. And, they were the only two non-Mormons at the University of Utah in this particular class, and my father was debating on one side of issues. He was a very eclectic spiritual seeker, I think that’s a generous way to put it, everything from Native American shamanism to different world cultures. My mother was a very—at the time, a very sort of proper Presbyterian. And so I like to say they came from opposite sides, but they were both on their own spiritual quest, and ultimately, neither one of them found the kind of nourishment that they were hungry for within any kind of institutional religion. And they divorced by the time I was two, but I like to think that in the mythic story of my life, a lot of what my life has been dedicated to is trying to find the bridge—the tent that’s large enough, that could nourish enough people that no matter where you come from, you could find something that would speak and nourish your...
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