Theology for the Masses

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 and its geographical location and finally, the literary words associated with the cult.

Before we get into this, I wanna take a few minutes and talk about the terms “popular religion” and “cult.”  Given the problems we have had over other technical terms such as myth, a brief discussion here will be helpful. 

Roundel: Saint Thecla with wild beasts. From Egypt. From Women of Byzantium By Carolyn Loessel Connor. Page 9

The term “popular religion” refers to the practices, structures and beliefs that the common people have.  This is usually contrasted with the official religion of a group, which refers to the beliefs, practices and structures (hereafter: religion) that those in charge of the group hold.  To use a present day example, the official religion of a Southern Baptist church would consist of the religion that the head pastor and board of deacons and elders publicly endorse.  The popular level would refer to the religion that is actually being practiced by the laypeople.  For example, when I was a member of the Crossing in Columbia, [1] the leadership of a church were strong advocates of calvinism, but in their membership class, they admitted that the majority of the members were not calvinists.  Here is the messy part: what constitutes the official religion of a group?  Can’t we contrast the top-level endorsed religion of the Southern Baptist convention with the religion endorsed by the leadership of the/a member congregation(s)?  You absolutely can; the popular/official distinction applies to any two elements which have an authoritative/subordinate relationship.  This speaks to the need for context and subtlety when studying a religious phenomena.  Here, when we are talking about the popular Christian religion, I am contrasting the popular level of cults and their devotees with the official religion which consisted of the religion of the early church fathers.  You could contrast the official religion of the cults with the religion of the devotees, but that is not what I am looking at today.

Ampulla with Saint Thecla between beasts.  From Egypt. From Women of Byzantium By Carolyn Loessel Connor. Page 10.

Now lets turn to the term “cult.”  In popular culture, and in some religious academic contexts, the term “cult” refers to any group [2] that has a set of belies, practices, and structures that the official culture [3] rejects wholesale.  For example, take the Branch Davidians, the Peoples Temple, and (for the majority of Americans throughout history) Mormonism.  However, in the academic study of religion and antiquity, a cult is something much different.  It refers to an established organization with the duty of running the a religious site, usually a temple.  Thus, when we talk about the “Temple cult” in Jerusalem, we are not talking about those “damn dirty Jews and their false beliefs.”  I am doing nothing of the sort!  Instead, we are only referring to the structures, practices, and personnel employed at this religious site.  Therefore, when I talk about the Thecla cult, I am only referring to shrine and church, the people associated with these places, and the rituals and practices that these people employed.

She is mentioned by authors and shows up in material culture in Asia Minor, Armenia, Cyprus, North Africa, Gaul, Germany, Italy, Palestine, and Egypt. [4]   Among the material culture that references Thecla are oil lamps, combs, flasks, wall paintings, shrines, and limestone graves. [5] These materials date from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE. Due to the favorable environmental conditions, most of the material evidence comes from Egypt; however, there are remnants of this material culture from all over the Roman Empire, such as a fourth century gold flask bearing her image in Germany and wall carvings in Armenia. [6]   This abundance of material culture shows the widespread popular influence of Thecla.  People came from all over the Roman empire to visit her shrine.  The Thecla cult and the values behind it was a powerful early influence in the first few centuries of Christianity.

The cult was centered at Seleucia in Asia Minor. It is here where her great shrine, Hagia Thekla, was located. [7] Two locations of the shrine have been located, and the site has an interesting history that includes the lives of Roman emperors. Most of the manuscript traditions can be traced back to this area. Two important ones in addition to the Acts of Thecla are the Life and Miracles of St. Thecla  ((Hereafter the Life and Miracles of St. Thecla will be referred to as Life and Miracles. When referring to the first section of the work, I will use the title Life, and Miracles when referring to the second part.)) and an extended version of the Acts of Thecla-Seleucia. The Life and Miracles of St. Thecla is a two part work that contains a paraphrase of the Acts of Thecla and a listing of forty-six of her purported miracles which was written in the 450’s CE. [8] The Acts of Thecla-Seleucia is an extended version of the Acts of Thecla that details her life after arriving at Seleucia that serves to provide an aetiological explanation for the shifting location of the Hagia Thekla shrine. [9] While a great deal of space could be consumed cataloging and discussing the multitude of manifestations of the Thecla cult in the Roman Empire, we will focus on the Seleucia cult. In examining this manifestation of the Thecla cult, we will be able to get a glimpse of why the cult was so popular in Roman Empire.  We will look at this issue in the next post.

1. which is not a Southern Baptist Church, but is of the reformed tradition [↩]
2. Here I am talking about religious groups [↩]
3. or the culture of the group that is using the term [↩]
4. Ibid. see chapters 3 and 6. [↩]
5. Ibid., 150. [↩]
6. Ibid., 85. [↩]
7. Dennis Ronald MacDonald, The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1983), 91. [↩]
8. The author mentions the death of prominent priest named Serverus who died in 444 CE and presupposes a local living bishop named John who died in 448CE. Davis, The Cult of St. Thecla: An Introduction to Women’s Piety in Late Antiquity, 41. [↩]
9. Ibid., 45. [↩]

The ESV Blog posted on Duncan Forbes’ new way of doing devotions: he uses his Greek New Testament. He is currently blogging about this idea and I must admit, I am very much drawn to it. I think When I come to a break in my devotion plan, I am going to do this. I think this applies equally as well with Hebrew and reading the BHS (or the LXX if you can only read Greek). Here are Duncan’s posts so far.

Part 1: Introduction/Encouragement

Part 2: The Slowdown Factor

Part 3: Seeing the Perfect Tense (seeing all the tenses I would say).

Part 4: Spotting Word Plays

Part 5: Spotting Jesus’ Nuances

One of the more disconcerting passages in all the Bible is the rape of Tamar, David’s daughter, by her half-brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13). As the narrative goes, Tamar is “loved” by her brother because he was tormented by her beauty. He feigns an illness to be alone with Tamar. When she brings him food to eat, he seizes her and rapes her despite her fervent resistance. After the rape, Amnon loathes his sister more than he ever “loved” her. He thrusts her away as a slave, a piece of property which was expended and now retains no value. To Amnon, she is no longer “Tamar,” she is now “this woman.” She is no longer a person who is “loved,” she is chattel to be discharged. [1]

Amnon learned this behavior from his father – that is, he learned to treat people, especially women, as property instead of humans created in God’s image. Just in the previous chapter David is finally confronted about his rape of Bathsheba and his clandestine execution of Uriah. People and their lives were mere objects to be consumed to David. He cared little for love, for family, for holiness. He cared only for consumption, and people are just another thing to be procured, retain, owned, and conquered.

What I find interesting in this whole matter is how intercourse and economics relate. As the narrative advances, we find Solomon, in the climax of his rule, with infinite wealth and thousands of sex-slaves. Women are objects to be owned – he too learned this from his father. Relationships, love, or devotion have no place in his world. Only objects exist, objects which are bought and sold, owned and operated, controlled and dominated. [2]

When economics and power become the chief agenda of a people, the objectification of others comes to dictate the landscape. This is particularly the case with sex. Sex becomes nothing more than, in our world, two consumers devouring one another, envision the other as an item whose individual purpose is to satisfy my desires without regards to the consequences of this behavior. That’s what consumerism is at its nastiest – a inexhaustible sport of stockpiling objects for one’s own agenda without considering the consequences of that consumption either for the earth, the other person, the community, or the world. It’s all about the ego.

Intercourse and economics – isn’t staggering how a person’s view on one stimulates certain assumptions about the other? When one views economics as merely a means of consumption and gaining wealth, power, and property, one will perceive sex the same way. But if economics is principally about honoring God through the giving away of one’s possessions, one will see sex differently as well. It is not about my desires, it is not about my consumption; it is about the other person, their will, their enjoyment, their desire. People are no longer objects to be owned and dominated (such as in pornography), they are people made in the Image of God! The denial of the ego in economic areas translates into the denial of the ego in the bedroom. This is why Paul lists greed right along side a bunch of sexual sins in Colossians 3. He realized the connection!

Its seems, then, that if we yearn for holiness, maybe our deity of covetousness and wealth ought to go first. If economics is linked to intercourse, imagine what else it is relates to – violence, anger, division, quarreling, pride! Maybe dispossession isn’t only about abnegation, [3] but about sanctification in all areas of life.

1. there is some credence to the thought that this objectification of women is inherent within the Torah. After all, women are listed among the property not to be coveted in the 10 Commandments. [↩]
2. Solomon’s disregard for others in favor of his own economic advancement is well documented among biblical scholars. This actually ends up splitting the kingdom after he dies, if you remember. [↩]
3. Thanks Theotica! [↩]