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The Thecla Narrative: Gender, Eschatology, And Divine Patronage In Second Century Social-Sexual Identity, Gina Lea Christ May 2013

The Thecla Narrative: Gender, Eschatology, And Divine Patronage In Second Century Social-Sexual Identity, Gina Lea Christ

Masters of Arts in Theology Theses

Graduate students at St. Catherine University are often introduced to the Acts of Paul and Thecla (APTh) in our New Testament class. As we approached the end of the section of the course dedicated to exploring Paul’s extant letters, we examined the Thecla story vis-à-vis the Pastoral Epistles as a glimpse into second-century appropriations of the Pauline legacy. Thus the Thecla narrative offers another second century perspective. As an example of extra-canonical writing in the early church we see how the cultural values of honor-shame provided part of the framework for early Christian views on gender and sexuality. In my …


20th Century American Conservative Evangelical Christianity And Its Understanding Of Faith, Timothy Grover May 2013

20th Century American Conservative Evangelical Christianity And Its Understanding Of Faith, Timothy Grover

Masters of Arts in Theology Theses

This thesis emerges from my experience with conservative evangelical Christianity. I come from a conservative evangelical Christian background, raised in a Baptist church that dropped the word Baptist from its name, preferring instead to be known as a non-denominational church. It was there that I observed that a church’s success is measured, in large part, by the number of new converts it brings to Christianity. I became disillusioned by the superficiality in the worship services. For example, I heard from a church employee that one music director was hired because, in addition to having a Master’s Degree in music, he …