This piece reconsiders Paul’s deferral of Thecla’s baptism in light of internal initiation themes and in connection with broader historical efforts to understand Paul’s statement in 1 Cor 1:17a (“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel”). To this end, the article surveys previous explanations for this deferral of baptism, proposing to integrate several previous insights into a reading of Thecla as initiate, locates this reading on the spectrum of ancient interpretations of 1 Cor 1:17 from Tertullian to John Chrysostom and finally considers other baptismal material in the Acts of Paul.
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See Carl Schmidt, Acta Pauli: Übersetzung, Untersuchungen und Koptischer Text (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1905) (supplemented by Carl Schmidt, “Ein Berliner Fragment der alten Πράξεις Παύλου”, sbaw, no. 1 (1909): 37-40).
Beate Wehn, “‘Selig die Körper der Jungfräulichen’—Überlegungen zum Paulusbild der Thekla-Akten,” in Paulus. Umstrittene Tradition—lebendige Theologie. Eine feministische Lektüre, ed. C. Janssen, L. Schottroff and B. Wehn (Gütersloh: Kaiser, 2001), 189—“Paulus’ Frauenbild in ActThecl 25 erweist sich also in bezug auf Thekla als falsch. Dieser Erweis bedeutet fundamentale Kritik an der Person des Paulus in den ActThecl.” In a similar vein, though without claiming that the text criticizes Paul, Elisabeth Esch-Wermeling, Thekla–Paulusschülerin wider Willen? Strategien der Leserlenkung in den Theklaakten, NAbh 53 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2008), 84-85 argues that “wenn Paulus eine weitere Prüfungssituation für seine junge Schülerin erwartet, müsste dies eher ein Argument für die Spendung der Taufe sein, da sie Stärkung für kommende Aufgaben verleihen kann . . . Vor diesem Hintergrund erscheint es fraglich, warum gerade Theklas Taufwunsch unerfüllt bleibt und auf einen unbestimmten Zeitpunkt verschoben wird.” In fact, if Paul sees an impending trial to her purity, in the context of second and third century baptismal theology, any such possibility of failure is a very good reason to postpone baptism; see further below.
Ibid., 205-211; for her discussion of framing more broadly, including her theoretical apparatus, see pp. 189-205.
Ibid., 176.
Ibid., 27-70. Note particularly her point that the vast majority of overlap with the Pastoral Epistles, both in terms of named characters and in terms of counter-themes (such as problematizing the normative importance of household structure), occurs in the Iconium narrative, while the same characters and themes are much less prevalent in the Antioch material.
Esch-Wermeling, Thekla, 87-88; cf. the similar comments in Jensen, Thekla, 96.
Snyder, Acts of Paul, 137-145; cf. also Smit, “St. Thecla”; Betz, “Thekla” and the general discussion of ἐγκρατεία in Dunn, “The Acts of Paul,” 78-88.
Cf. the discussion of Klauck, Ancient Letters and the New Testament, 66. Whether or not Paul’s statement in 1 Cor 15:32 was literal or figurative (see Daniel Frayer-Griggs, “The Beasts at Ephesus and the Cult of Artemis,” htr 106, no. 4 (2013): 459-477) is not relevant for the present argument.
Cf. the discussion in Pervo, Acts of Paul, 234-236. Carl Schmidt and Wilhelm Schubart, ΠΡΑΞΕΙΣ ΠΑΥΛΟΥ. Acta Pauli nach dem Papyrus der Hamburger Staats- und Universitäts-bibliothek unter Mitarbeit von Wilhelm Schubart (Hamburg: J. J. Augustin, 1936), 90 solved the problematic chronological notices by arguing that P.Hamb 3.1-5 was an interpolation; cf. comments in Gérard Poupon, “L’accusation de magie dans les Actes apocryphes,” in Les Actes apocryphes des apôtres, Publications de la faculté de théologie de l’université de Genève 4 (Genève: Labor et Fides, 1981), 86.
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This piece reconsiders Paul’s deferral of Thecla’s baptism in light of internal initiation themes and in connection with broader historical efforts to understand Paul’s statement in 1 Cor 1:17a (“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel”). To this end, the article surveys previous explanations for this deferral of baptism, proposing to integrate several previous insights into a reading of Thecla as initiate, locates this reading on the spectrum of ancient interpretations of 1 Cor 1:17 from Tertullian to John Chrysostom and finally considers other baptismal material in the Acts of Paul.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 416 | 38 | 4 |
Full Text Views | 226 | 0 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 118 | 4 | 0 |