Jesus Mary-ed?

Oh the irony of it all! Consider this observation I read recently in Reinventing Jesus (a terrific resource, by the way):

None [of the Gnostic gospels] were written earlier than the second century. The tendency in these gospels toward asceticism produced a loathing of marriage, sexual intimacy, and the bearing of children. In such documents, Mary, Salome, and other women are elevated in their status as disciples of Jesus… Why would these women be featured prominently in these gospels? They were not elevated, as [Dan] Brown and others allege, because of their intimacy with Jesus—especially sexual intimacy—but precisely because, as women, they modeled for the men what it meant to be a celibate and ascetically minded disciple. These very gospels that discourage marriage would hardly have promoted a picture of sexual intimacy between Jesus and any woman.