Women & Angels of the Bible: Mary Magdalene and the Angels at the Tomb

Forward Movement Managing Editor Richelle Thompson recently chatted with Lindsay Hardin Freeman, author of the popular book Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter, and Kate Moorehead, author of the newly released Angels of the Bible: Finding Grace, Beauty, and Meaning. This discussion focused on Mary Magdalene and her interaction with the angels at the tomb.


“What gives me strength in looking at her and what interests me is that she had dealt with the demons in her own soul. She had dealt with the darkness in her own soul. That gave her, in my mind, the strength to go into the darkness of the tomb.

Yes. One of the things I love about her is that she can be a saint for all of us who are struggling and who have felt depression or anxiety. And almost everybody in some way or another has some kind of issues that they’ve had to deal with. She gives us a role model of a person who’s really suffered and gotten in the dirt and messed around and struggled. And in her struggle, she becomes the greatest disciple, because, like Lindsay said, she’s not afraid of the tomb. She is the one person present at the cross in all four of the gospels. No one else can make that claim. She doesn’t leave. Everybody else runs away. Well, she doesn’t leave because she’s already been in the pit.”

Read the full interview here.

You can also listen to this conversation in a special episode of the Forward Day by Day podcast, released on April 2, 2020.