Abstract In the received text of John 20:16, Mary Magdalene responds to Jesus with the Aramaic word ῥαββουνί, translated into Greek as διδάσκαλε (“teacher”). However, in some early manuscripts, ῥαββουνί is instead or also translated as κύριε/domine (“Lord”). Moreover, many other witnesses include the additional phrase καὶ προσέδραμεν ἅψασθαι αὐτοῦ (“and she ran to touch him”). Where did these variants originate, and how were they interpreted in the history of the church? This study broadly surveys the philological, text-critical, exegetical, and patristic evidence, and demonstrates that a first-century Aramaic context supports the translation of ῥαββουνί as “Lord”; meanwhile, the variant “and she ran to touch him” may have originated in a Valentinian setting where Mary Magdalene was being connected with Achamoth/the “lower Sophia.” Deliberate editorial activity was likely at play in these various presentations of Mary Magdalene at John 20:16, since the stakes around her were particularly high in the early centuries of Christianity. Thus, Johannine exegetes should begin to look beyond our received text of John 20:16 and discover the narrative variants preserved in this important verse, which have enlivened its interpretation throughout the history of the church.
Schrader et al. (Fri,) studied this question.