Thecla

Subsequent readers of the Pauline letters found much in them to support both celibacy and noncelibate marriage. A century or so later, someone formulated a tale of an elite young virgin named Thecla, who renounced her engagement and left her family to adopt an ascetic, celibate form of Christian pra...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kraemer, Ross Shepard 1948- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Oxford University Press 2019
In: The Oxford handbook of New Testament, gender, and sexuality
Year: 2019, Pages: 485-504
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Thecla Martyr ca. 1. Jh. / Paul Apostle / Celibacy / Virginity / Marriage / Tertullinus, von Rom, Heiliger -257 / Apocryphal apostle acts / Woman / Ordination
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
HC New Testament
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Subsequent readers of the Pauline letters found much in them to support both celibacy and noncelibate marriage. A century or so later, someone formulated a tale of an elite young virgin named Thecla, who renounced her engagement and left her family to adopt an ascetic, celibate form of Christian practice preached by Paul. This essay analyzes the treatment of gender and sexuality in the Acts of Thecla with attention to both the ancient narrative itself and scholarly debates. Gender reversal is here central to the critique leveled by the text. Christian women are the ultimate exemplars of masculine morality and piety, compared to whom even Christian men are deficient in this regard—or at least less impressive. The essay also attends to the complex relationship between contemporary theological debates (especially with respect to women’s ordination) and the Thecla narrative as historical precedent.
ISBN:0190213418
Contains:Enthalten in: The Oxford handbook of New Testament, gender, and sexuality
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190213398.013.2