The Acts of Paul and Thecla: Empowering Women to Act
The later canonical status of these pseudo-Pauline texts has often hidden the fact that the view they represent is not the only way Paul was remembered in the second century.[1043] Although their writers claim to be the only rightful heirs of the Pauline legacy, there were other, competing views that allowed women more freedom.
The most striking example of these is in the previously mentioned Acts of Paul and Thecla. It presents a Paul who praises virginity, even makes it a precondition for salvation (ch. 12)[1044] and who commissions his female follower to continue his mission as an independent teacher (ch. 41). As we have seen, Tertullian accepted the claim of the pastoral epistles but rejected the Acts of Paul and Thecla as a forgery.The story of Thecla is unique among early Christian writings in that it has a woman protagonist. She is a “high society girl” who hears Paul’s preaching on continence, converts and becomes a devout virgin, rejects her fiance, incurs the dismay of her mother, and upsets the whole city. She is condemned to death twice but miraculously escapes each time. When she is facing death for the second time in the arena, she performs self-baptism. She becomes an independent apostle who proclaims her message publicly in front of the governor (ch. 37), teaches and converts other women (ch. 39) and becomes an itinerant evangelist dressed in a man’s clothing (ch. 40.) The narrative ends with Paul’s commissioning her to preach and she is said to “enlighten many with the word of God” until she “sleeps with a noble sleep” (ch. 43).[1045] Even though this is all that is reported of Thecla’s activities, it implies that she continued her work as an independent teach- er.[1046] The Greek verb (to illuminate or enlighten) was also used
as a term for baptizing and teaching in early Christianity.[1047]
Paul’s attitude toward women, their marital status and public role in the Acts of Paul and Thecla seems to be a diametrical opposite of his view in the pastoral letters, as several scholars have noted.[1048] The pastoral Paul prohibits women from teaching; Paul the companion of Thecla appoints her to teach.
The pastoral Paul urges all women (and men) to marry; Paul the companion of Thecla rejects marriage altogether. The pastoral Paul promises salvation for those women who bear children; Paul the companion of Thecla claims that only those who have renounced sexual relations will be resurrected. The pastoral Paul equates obedience to parents and authorities with obedience to God and understands Christianity as strengthening social ties; Paul the companion of Thecla challenges her loyalty to her mother and fiance, commands his followers to obey only God, and shakes the whole foundation of society with his preaching in favor of asceticism.Several scholars have suggested that these opposing views are not a coincidence but either the pastorals were written to overcome the “false” image of Paul and his teaching on women in the Acts of Paul and Thecla, or vice versa. There is no unanimity, however, on which way the influence goes. Since the pastoral epistles are undoubtedly older than the Acts of Paul and Thecla in its existing forms, many scholars assume that the compiler of the Acts of Paul and Thecla knew the pastoral epistles and intentionally presented Paul in a different light. Others follow the influential thesis of Dennis MacDonald who claims that the writer(s) of the pastoral epistles are fighting against oral legends that lie behind the Acts of Paul and Thecla. These legends that, in his view, originated among celibate female storytellers who lived outside the established oikia-system, promoted freedom for women to teach in the church and called for strict celibacy.[1049] It was the pastoral letters, then, that were written specifically to counteract these legends and the image of Paul in them and to “depict a more domestic, quiescent, and respectable Paul.”[1050]
MacDonald’s thesis is attractive since the forceful prohibition against women teachers and leaders in 1 Timothy seems to imply that there actually were women who acted in teaching and leadership roles.
Why would the writer attack women who do not understand their proper place in the home so vigorously had there been none? It is questionable, however, whether the writer was directly reacting against traditions about Thecla and Paul. The relationship between the pastoral letters and the Acts of Paul and Thecla seems to be more complicated than MacDonald’s thesis implies. There are several indicators of common tradition, most obviously the geographical names Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra (2 Tim 3:11; cf. Acts Paul 1-3)[1051] and the personal names Onesiphorus, Demas, and Hermogenes, otherwise not widely known (2 Tim 1:15-16; 4:10,19; cf. Acts Paul 1-2; 45).[1052] However, it is noteworthy that all these names occur in 2 Timothy while the pastoral teaching concerning women is found in 1 Timothy and Titus. Even if we assume that all three letters were written by the same author,[1053] it would be difficult to explain why he would so split the oral traditions that contained both the names and the portrayal of Paul who encourages women to act.[1054] No matter how the relationship of these writings is explained, it is indisputable that many views in the Acts of Paul and Thecla concerning women come close to the position that is polemicized in the pastorals.[1055]D.