Early Church
The Acts of Thecla and Notions of Gender
A few Mondays ago we completed our analysis of the two major story arcs in the Acts of Thecla. Today we’ll take some time to recap the two previous posts.
The first arc of the Acts of Thecla serves to introduce Paul and Thecla and to begin the critique of the opponents of the writer’s community. [...]
The Opening of 1st Corinthians
The Church at Corinth was all kinds of broken. The had problems over charismatic gifts. They had problems over class divisions. Gender roles split their spirit. And on and on.
But, in light of all of that, look how God lead Paul to open his second letter to the Church there:
I am writing to God’s church [...]
Arc Two – Completing the Reversal
Friday we looked at how Thecla began her journey from the standard Roman passive feminity on through standard Roman active masculinity toward the early Christian ideal of nongendered activity. Today, we will look at the second arc of the Acts of Thecla and see how she completes her journey.
The second arc begins in much the [...]
Arc One – Critiquing Roman Gender Roles
Wednesday, we looked at the an overview of the rhetorical effect of the Acts of Thecla to better understand how it functioned in the early Christian mind. Today, we will examine the first arc of gender criticism in detail in the Acts of Thecla.
The narrative structure of the Acts of Thecla consists of two four-part [...]
Shower Question of the Day: Jesus and Women
Does the BC position ever use anything from Jesus to support their claims? If not, what does that mean for their theology?
I was thinking about that this morning as I was wondering about the merits of ESF’s claim that Christianity developed from the Jesus movement into the Early Missionary movement and then into a group [...]
Overview of the Acts of Thecla
Monday we finished looking at the Thecla Cult in early Christianity. Today we will take stock of the actual text itself before looking at the tides of rhetoric it employed.
The textual tradition of the Acts of Thecla effectively co-opted and modified established patterns rhetoric for its own ends. We will explore one of these pre-existing [...]
Devotees of Hagia Thekla
Last Friday, we looked at the physical shrine of Hagia Thekla and what it said about gender roles in early Christianity. Today, I wanna look at the actions and attitudes of the real people who lived and traveled there. We will see that the devotees that worshiped, vistied, and lived at Hagia Thekla were from [...]
The Shrine of Hagia Thekla
Previously, I talked about the cult of Thecla in general. Today, I wanna look briefly at the physical shrine to Thecla at Seleucia. We will see, through its physical development and imperial patronage, its popularity and subsequent influence on the minds of second through seventh century Christians.
As referenced Wednesday, Hagia Thekla, the main shrine dedicated [...]
Chloe Part 1 - Her People
This is my first post in my series of real women in Paul. This series is inspired and based heavily on “Reading Real Women Through the Undisputed Letters of Paul” as found in Women and Christian Origins. We will be looking at all of the women mentioned by name in the undisputed letters of Paul, [...]
The Influence of Thecla in Popular Christian Thought
In my previous post I introduced us to the Acts of Thecla and suggested that it played a powerful role in early popular Christian thought. Next, I wanna talk about the devotion that sprang up around this figure. Today, we will talk a bit about the material culture that we have from the Thecla devotion [...]
Pressure from Below: The Thecla Tradition and Early Christian Expectation
Only three nights from Tarsus, in Isauria, is the martyr shrine of Saint Thecla. Since it was so close we were pleased to travel there… Around the holy church there is a tremendous number of cells for men and women… There are a great many cells on that hill, and in the middle a great [...]
Question: The Pacifist and Romans 13:1-7
To all the Christian Pacifists out there – How do you interpret Romans 13:1-7, especially verse 4?
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who [...]
He smote his face with his hands
I love reading apocryphal literature. Too many awesome and hilarious things happen in them not to read them. Take chapter 17-22 in the Acts of Thomas. In chapter 17, Thomas has been sold as a slave to an Indian merchant by good ole Jesus and finally having an audience with the king. After showcasing his [...]
Paul and Sex(uality) “According to Nature”
Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural (παρα φύσιν), and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. Romans 1:26-27
Perhaps no two verses have played [...]
Preliminary Thoughts - Rich Chrisitans in an Age of Hunger
Meredith and I, along with some friends, will be reading through Ronald J. Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. I just finished reading the prologue and wanted to give my initial thoughts.
My skepticism
I get the need. I do, I really do. My problem is the solution, or lack thereof. I see [...]