NT 20.5 | Thecla: The Woman Who Baptized Herself in Early Christianity скачать в хорошем качестве

NT 20.5 | Thecla: The Woman Who Baptized Herself in Early Christianity

The Acts of Paul and Thecla was one of the most widely read Christian texts of the ancient world — and one of the most threatening to church authority. This video examines how a non-canonical second-century narrative elevated a woman above the Apostle Paul, depicted self-baptism as a radical claim to sacramental authority, and provoked condemnation from church fathers like Tertullian around 200 CE. Key concepts covered: • The patriarchal household (oikos) and the role of the paterfamilias in ancient Mediterranean society • Honor-shame culture and how male authority depended on controlling women • Radical asceticism and celibacy as a path to liberation from the marriage system • Paul's diminished role in the text: he refuses to baptize Thecla, hides, and claims not to know her • The Alexander episode: Thecla publicly humiliates a powerful man, inverting honor-shame dynamics • Female solidarity as a layered theological structure — from individual women to crowds, female animals, and divine intervention • Thecla's self-baptism as the theological climax: claiming sacramental authority no male leader would grant • Thecla's transformation into a financially independent apostle through woman-to-woman wealth transfer • The feminist debate: is freedom that requires renouncing sexuality and feminine identity truly liberation? • Tertullian's condemnation and the real-world impact of the text on women leaving marriages • Thecla's lasting veneration as a saint in Eastern Christianity across centuries ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ SOURCE MATERIALS The source materials for this video are from    • 20. The "Anti-household" Paul: Thecla