Autonomy In Thecla

Authorship and Historical Attestation:

Now that Thecla’s tale has been told, one must ask why the story of Thecla was written in such detail. Is Thecla’s story meant to encourage the Late Antiquity female population to rise up and be leaders within their church and community? Or, is Thecla a virtuous example of how a woman should uphold her virginity and chastity if she is not going to be married? One must wonder if Thecla was written by female authors or by men with sympathies for female autonomy. Does this text have anything to do with Thecla, or does it have everything to do with Paul? These are questions I was left with while researching Thecla.

It should be first noted that scholars believe the Acts of Paul and Thecla exists alongside

From Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego— to—Abraham and Sarah—to—even Jesus Christ, Thecla relates to prophets, priests, and kings. Taking Glenn Snyder’s comparison of the Abraham and Sarah story as a parallel to Thecla, both dealt with an obscene ruler, both have references to the female’s beauty, both females are kidnapped, both are saved by God’s wrath and salvation, and both are restored. Likewise, there are numerous examples of Thecla raising her hands in the form of the cross or representing Jesus Christ post-crucifixion. She is innocent like Christ, she transforms into her role as a leader, she is anointed by God, she is baptized under conflict, she is prepared for death by those who adore her, she is crucified, and she is resurrected. I do not believe our novel relates the possibility of Thecla as a new Messiah, but rather to connect Thecla’s authority with key Biblical figures. Additionally, The Life and Miracles of Thekla, especially, emphasizes her ascetic lifestyle. Thecla gives up her wealth and status to follow Paul, she freely comes to the pyre and the colosseum for martyrdom, she shaves her head and discards her clothes, she lives as a hermit in Seleucia, and she heals all who are sick and weary. It is no surprise that she is noted as the very first female martyr and her hagiography has memorialized her healing

Throughout the novel, a contextual reader will recognize how Thecla is benefiting from Roman rule while subverting it. Similar to Paul, she is an implied citizen of Rome who pays taxes, her mother holds court with the Proconsul, and Thecla takes advantage of the Roman Road. And yet, Thecla disregards her role as a female who maintains the family system by participating in dowry, consummation, and procreation. By Thecla avoiding marriage, she is preventing another Roman citizen from entering into society. Additionally, while fending off Alexander’s sexual assault, she knocks off his crown which bears the image of Caesar. A reader during that era would read this as the dethronement of Empire by of one of God’s servants. Then when the Empire attempts to end Thecla’s life in a Roman colosseum, God intervenes by enclosing her a cloud of fire in the same way that God protected the Israelites from the Egyptian empire. Regardless of who authored this text, it is believed that the author presented Thecla to be subversive to the Roman