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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]