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Thecla Penetrates The Popular Perception, Leah Jo M. Shelton

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

This paper analyzes The Acts of Paul and Thecla, an early Christian writing, within the framework of gender in antique Rome. Roman gender was based on performance, which is the basis of each character's gender construction in this story. Thecla undergoes a radical transformation from a passive female, preparing to be wed, to an active, ideal male who controls her independence and performs public oratory. In contrast, Paul, who appears as an ideal male at the beginning of the story, is "unmanned" by Thecla when she ultimately defies her female categorization. The Acts of Paul and Thecla exhibits the …