This text is unique among gospels—it is the only one named after a woman. The Gospel of Mary portrays the Magdalene as a leader among apostles—an outlook that was undercut by later mainstream Christianity—as can be seen from the following excerpt.
Peter said to Mary, “Sister, we know that the savior loved you more than any other woman. Tell us the words of the Savior that you know, but which we haven’t heard.” Mary answered, saying, “I will report to you as much as I remember that you don’t know.” And she began to speak these words to them. She 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, ‘Congratulations to you for not wavering at seeing me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure.’ I said to him, ‘Lord, how does a person who sees a vision see it—with the soul or with the spirit?’ The Savior answered, ‘The visionary does not see with the soul or with the spirit, but with the mind which exists between the two.’ ”
