Mary, the mother of Jesus -- Wife of Joseph, who was a carpenter. Mother of Jesus, 4 other sons, and 2 daughters

Mary, the "other Mary" -- No info available.

Thanks for your questions. BibleTexts.com consistently attempts to provide a truly representative sampling of responsible biblical scholarship. Readers are invited to honestly evaluate the data and draw their own conclusions.

In response to your question, I have revised the entry about Mary the mother of Jesus at:

http://www.bibletexts.com/glossary/thetwelve.htm#jesus-mother

One correction I made was to eliminate "2" as the number of daughters that Mary had. The New Testament only mentions that Jesus had sisters; whereas, it mentions that Jesus' had 4 brothers, and they are named. All four gospels mention Jesus' brothers. Paul, in several different places in his letters (which were written many years before the gospels), also referred to "the brothers" of Jesus. Paul also records that he personally met James, to whom Paul refers as Jesus' brother. Nowhere does the New Testament even hint that Mary did not have other children after Jesus.

I also have revised the entry about "the other Mary" at:

http://www.bibletexts.com/glossary/thetwelve.htm#mary-other

There I note:

Commentators consistently believe that this was the mother of James and Joseph (mentioned in Mat 27:56), but not the mother of Jesus, whose brothers were James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. (E.g., see J.C. Fenton's St. Matthew, page 445-446, Robert G Bratcher's A Translation Guide to ... Matthew, page 368, Carla Ricci's Mary Magdalene and many others, page 62 footnote 8)

For myself, who am the Editor of BibleTexts.com, I am very much committed to the Christian theology and practices of the earliest Christians, especially those prior to 313 A.D.

After 313 A.D., Roman Emperor Constantine deeply involved himself in the affairs of Christians and fundamentally corrupted the practices, theology, and organization of Christians within the grasp of his empire. Constantine and future Roman emperors and their cohorts had those whom the Emperors could not coerce, either exiled, killed, and/or had their writings systematically destroyed by means of house to house searches.

For some additional details on Constantine's corruptive influence, see:

http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/313ad.htm

For an overview of what the early Christians taught and practiced -- and what they discouraged and did not practice, see:

http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/genuine-christianity.htm