WEBVTT

00:01.520 --> 00:06.120
Prof: This topic today
is really fun.

00:06.120 --> 00:10.190
I love the Acts of Paul and
Thecla.

00:10.190 --> 00:12.320
It is such a bizarre document.

00:12.320 --> 00:16.190
I hope you read it before class
as the syllabus instructed you

00:16.192 --> 00:16.512
to.

00:16.510 --> 00:19.570
It's not an easy document to
get into if it's the first time

00:19.574 --> 00:22.694
you've come across this kind of
non-canonical early Christian

00:22.690 --> 00:23.470
literature.

00:23.470 --> 00:25.660
Sometimes we'll call this stuff
"apocryphal"

00:25.659 --> 00:27.889
which is just the Greek word
for "hidden."

00:27.890 --> 00:33.360
This is not part of the
apocrypha that's published in

00:33.357 --> 00:37.147
your Bible,
your study Bible if you bought

00:37.145 --> 00:42.005
the Bible that I requested which
was the Oxford Study Bible with

00:42.006 --> 00:43.006
Apocrypha.

00:43.010 --> 00:46.620
That apocrypha,
as I explained at the beginning

00:46.623 --> 00:51.183
of the whole semester is Jewish
literature that was written

00:51.180 --> 00:55.810
sometime in the Second Temple
period and it's not explicitly

00:55.814 --> 00:59.354
Christian literature for the
most part.

00:59.350 --> 01:02.790
When people talk about The
Apocrypha that's published in a

01:02.789 --> 01:05.139
modern Bible,
they're talking about that

01:05.141 --> 01:08.281
Jewish literature that survived
in Greek mainly.

01:08.280 --> 01:12.710
In fact this is why those books
were rejected by the reformers

01:12.712 --> 01:15.912
Martin Luther and Calvin,
and Melanchthon.

01:15.909 --> 01:18.909
They tended to not use the
apocrypha in a Protestant Bible

01:18.906 --> 01:22.266
precisely because they wanted to
go back to the Hebrew Bible like

01:22.269 --> 01:24.849
the rabbis were using,
and so The Apocrypha,

01:24.846 --> 01:27.986
although it has continued to be
part of the Roman Catholic

01:27.988 --> 01:29.958
Bible,
and as something having a

01:29.959 --> 01:32.269
secondary status,
has not been part of the

01:32.268 --> 01:33.188
Protestant Bible.

01:33.190 --> 01:36.890
That term "apocrypha"
refers to that very varying

01:36.885 --> 01:40.515
list because what is actually
even included in that Jewish

01:40.516 --> 01:44.276
apocrypha varies according to
which publication you may pick

01:44.275 --> 01:44.845
up.

01:44.849 --> 01:48.579
Sometimes people will also use
this word "apocrypha"

01:48.575 --> 01:52.175
for what they call something
like New Testament apocrypha or

01:52.178 --> 01:54.008
early Christian apocrypha.

01:54.010 --> 01:57.030
That's kind of a misleading
term because there's nothing

01:57.025 --> 01:59.105
hidden about this literature at
all.

01:59.110 --> 02:01.310
It's always been there,
it's just not part of the

02:01.305 --> 02:02.125
Christian canon.

02:02.129 --> 02:06.429
Some of it is entirely
orthodox, some of it is rather

02:06.433 --> 02:10.013
heretical,
and some of it is somewhere not

02:10.014 --> 02:14.464
completely in tune with later
orthodoxy but nevertheless

02:14.461 --> 02:19.151
reflecting what was definitely
orthodox in its own day.

02:19.150 --> 02:22.000
All this literature is written
in the second century,

02:22.000 --> 02:23.930
our document today,
the Acts of Paul and

02:23.926 --> 02:26.176
Thecla,
was composed in the second

02:26.181 --> 02:29.781
century and it was considered
quite good literature by many

02:29.778 --> 02:31.018
early Christians.

02:31.020 --> 02:34.900
It just wasn't part of the New
Testament, mainly because people

02:34.901 --> 02:38.661
knew it was a bit later of a
document, not so much because of

02:38.658 --> 02:40.348
concerns for orthodoxy.

02:40.348 --> 02:43.958
One of the purposes of my
teaching this course,

02:43.960 --> 02:47.170
one of my purposes of teaching
all of my courses,

02:47.169 --> 02:53.279
is to get students to start
thinking completely differently.

02:53.280 --> 02:54.790
In other words,
you've noticed,

02:54.794 --> 02:57.504
perhaps,
that one of the things I stress

02:57.503 --> 03:00.913
in my lectures is how odd the
ancient world is,

03:00.908 --> 03:04.648
even how odd early Christianity
is from what most of us tend to

03:04.653 --> 03:05.443
come at it.

03:05.438 --> 03:08.428
This is because I teach New
Testament studies and the

03:08.425 --> 03:11.635
history of early Christianity
almost like ethnography.

03:11.639 --> 03:14.569
I try to get you to imagine
yourself coming into a culture

03:14.574 --> 03:17.564
that's really different from the
culture you grew up in.

03:17.560 --> 03:21.960
This is something I think is
basic to religious studies as a

03:21.955 --> 03:25.435
discipline,
and religious studies teaches

03:25.443 --> 03:29.323
you to look at some kind of
group of people,

03:29.318 --> 03:32.458
or an activity,
or a belief structure that

03:32.455 --> 03:35.815
seems to you initially
absolutely bizarre.

03:35.818 --> 03:39.028
And you think,
how could any rational person

03:39.032 --> 03:39.782
do that?

03:39.780 --> 03:42.030
How can any rational person
belief that?

03:42.030 --> 03:46.700
To keep looking at it seriously
and to look at it with enough

03:46.702 --> 03:50.912
sympathy that you actually can
see eventually how it is

03:50.907 --> 03:52.697
perfectly rational.

03:52.699 --> 03:56.379
This document today is a great
place to illustrate that,

03:56.378 --> 03:59.228
because whenever I teach this
document to people your age,

03:59.229 --> 04:01.809
eighteen to twenty-two year old
college students,

04:01.810 --> 04:04.520
if you read this carefully and
you get into this stuff,

04:04.520 --> 04:06.560
it should be bizarre to you.

04:06.560 --> 04:11.540
This document depicts young
people who are attracted to a

04:11.536 --> 04:16.776
version of Christianity that
forbids having sex entirely.

04:16.779 --> 04:19.739
It's completely ascetic.

04:19.740 --> 04:22.100
The Paul in the Acts of Paul
and Thecla says,

04:22.101 --> 04:24.881
if you have sex you're probably
not going to go to heaven.

04:24.879 --> 04:29.269
Basically the gospel mentioned
in this document is continence,

04:29.271 --> 04:32.441
by which this document means
avoiding sex.

04:32.439 --> 04:36.789
And that's going to be bizarre
enough because people in the

04:36.790 --> 04:39.640
modern world kind of have the
idea,

04:39.639 --> 04:44.149
well why would somebody join
any movement that forbade sexual

04:44.154 --> 04:45.664
intimacy entirely?

04:45.660 --> 04:48.190
What kind of draw did that have
for people?

04:48.190 --> 04:50.380
Why did that gospel succeed?

04:50.379 --> 04:53.449
What may be surprising to you
is it did succeed.

04:53.449 --> 04:55.619
In the ancient world a lot of
people,

04:55.620 --> 04:58.240
especially it seems sometimes
even young people,

04:58.240 --> 05:02.270
were drawn to early
Christianity precisely because

05:02.271 --> 05:03.671
it was ascetic.

05:03.670 --> 05:07.420
It taught this radical
asceticism of watching what you

05:07.415 --> 05:11.275
eat and especially avoiding sex,
or if not avoiding sex

05:11.281 --> 05:14.821
entirely, severely limiting
sexual intercourse and sexual

05:14.824 --> 05:15.714
attraction.

05:15.709 --> 05:18.749
\What is it about the ancient
culture,

05:18.750 --> 05:22.380
what is it about these people
that caused them not only to be

05:22.379 --> 05:26.009
converted to Christianity but to
be converted especially to a

05:26.009 --> 05:28.549
form of it that was radically
ascetic?

05:28.550 --> 05:31.830
In order to see why that kind
of Christianity was--because

05:31.829 --> 05:35.109
that's the actual kind of
Christianity that was successful

05:35.110 --> 05:36.550
in the ancient world.

05:36.550 --> 05:40.100
If you were listening to most
modern American Christians,

05:40.100 --> 05:43.620
modern American people
generally, what are the two most

05:43.617 --> 05:47.067
important teachings about
Christianity in the minds of

05:47.071 --> 05:48.311
most Americans?

05:48.310 --> 05:52.310
The family, the importance of
the family,

05:52.310 --> 05:55.670
and by that they mean the
heterosexual nuclear family,

05:55.670 --> 05:58.820
but even the liberal churches
which are willing to recognize

05:58.819 --> 06:02.189
gay relationships,
they still construe that as gay

06:02.190 --> 06:06.040
marriage or just gay versions of
the nuclear family.

06:06.040 --> 06:08.250
The family is the most
important thing about

06:08.245 --> 06:10.805
Christianity in the minds of a
lot of Americans.

06:10.810 --> 06:13.620
The second thing is
nationalism, patriotism.

06:13.620 --> 06:18.270
If you took away patriotism and
nationalism, and the family out

06:18.271 --> 06:21.651
of Christianity,
most people in modern America

06:21.648 --> 06:24.198
wouldn't recognize it as such.

06:24.199 --> 06:27.129
What's odd is that,
when you read these ancient

06:27.132 --> 06:30.892
documents, that's precisely the
two things that Christianity

06:30.894 --> 06:31.664
attacks.

06:31.660 --> 06:35.460
This form of early Christianity
was anti-family,

06:35.464 --> 06:39.274
for the most part,
and it was anti-patriotic.

06:39.269 --> 06:43.999
The people who say,
but this is traditional

06:44.004 --> 06:47.344
Christianity,
those people don't know their

06:47.339 --> 06:50.169
history before 1950,
because the church,

06:50.168 --> 06:55.348
the overall Christian churches
were never pro-family for the

06:55.350 --> 06:58.600
first 1500 years of its
existence.

06:58.600 --> 07:01.810
The Roman Catholic Church,
up until the Reformation,

07:01.810 --> 07:04.120
always had as its official
position,

07:04.120 --> 07:07.900
not just popular ideas,
its official position was

07:07.901 --> 07:10.741
celibacy is superior to
sexuality.

07:10.740 --> 07:14.160
If you have to have sex,
if you can't control yourself

07:14.160 --> 07:17.970
you're allowed to get married
and have sex within the bounds

07:17.966 --> 07:18.996
of marriage.

07:19.000 --> 07:22.220
But the better thing,
the better virtue would be to

07:22.216 --> 07:24.916
avoid sex entirely for your
entire life.

07:24.920 --> 07:28.920
The next best thing is to have
sex if you need just to make

07:28.920 --> 07:30.660
babies,
but then as soon as you have

07:30.663 --> 07:33.523
your babies,
stop having sex and be ascetic

07:33.516 --> 07:35.296
the rest of your life.

07:35.300 --> 07:38.910
If your spouse dies,
you are permitted to get

07:38.911 --> 07:40.801
remarried,
most of the time,

07:40.797 --> 07:43.487
but the higher virtue would be
in remaining unmarried and

07:43.490 --> 07:45.800
remaining celibate for the rest
of your life.

07:45.800 --> 07:49.230
That was considered the
doctrine in Christianity,

07:49.225 --> 07:52.785
at least up until the
Reformation, so the sixteenth

07:52.793 --> 07:53.653
century.

07:53.649 --> 07:55.979
When people talk about
"traditional family

07:55.982 --> 07:58.722
values" being traditionally
the Christian way,

07:58.720 --> 08:02.310
they're not talking about
Christianity as it existed from

08:02.309 --> 08:05.769
the time of Jesus all the way up
until around 1600,

08:05.769 --> 08:09.979
and even then from 1600 until
1950,

08:09.980 --> 08:13.180
the ideal form in most
Christianity was not the nuclear

08:13.184 --> 08:15.324
family but some kind of
household.

08:15.319 --> 08:18.189
In Puritan New England,
people didn't live in little

08:18.185 --> 08:21.285
nuclear families--
townships, the New Haven

08:21.286 --> 08:24.496
Colony, the Massachusetts Bay
Colony,

08:24.500 --> 08:28.110
they were organized into
households that were run by the

08:28.105 --> 08:31.375
male head of household,
his wife under him,

08:31.379 --> 08:35.039
children under that,
servants and other free people

08:35.043 --> 08:38.303
often living in the household
also or connected to the

08:38.301 --> 08:39.101
household.

08:39.100 --> 08:41.660
If you are, for example,
an adult male,

08:41.658 --> 08:44.588
twenty-five years old in New
England,

08:44.590 --> 08:47.820
in Puritan New England,
and you weren't married,

08:47.820 --> 08:51.410
you weren't really supposed to
live alone or with other men.

08:51.408 --> 08:54.628
That happens sometimes,
but the town fathers--

08:54.629 --> 08:58.539
and these colonies were ruled
as communities,

08:58.538 --> 09:02.058
not individual people--the town
fathers would want to put you

09:02.057 --> 09:05.357
into somebody else's household,
into the household of another

09:05.363 --> 09:05.593
man.

09:05.590 --> 09:09.120
They certainly wouldn't let
women, adult women live

09:09.120 --> 09:10.040
separately.

09:10.038 --> 09:12.648
Notice, this is not
individualism in the modern

09:12.649 --> 09:15.939
sense, and it's not the nuclear
family in the modern sense,

09:15.942 --> 09:18.272
these are extended family
households.

09:18.269 --> 09:21.529
That was the New England
Protestant way.

09:21.528 --> 09:26.338
When did the idea that the best
form of the family was the

09:26.344 --> 09:30.994
nuclear family come about in
popular culture overall?

09:30.990 --> 09:32.670
The 1950s.

09:32.668 --> 09:36.838
When people talk about that
being the Christian thing

09:36.839 --> 09:41.409
they're forgetting the vast
sweep of Christian history.

09:41.409 --> 09:43.269
They're just ignoring it.

09:43.269 --> 09:47.269
This document is a good place
to see why that made sense for

09:47.270 --> 09:49.320
people,
especially in the ancient

09:49.317 --> 09:51.717
world, and to make it--
since for the Middle Ages and

09:51.719 --> 09:54.009
all the rest of the time you'll
have to take another course.

09:54.009 --> 09:57.789
One of the things I want you to
do is enter into this text as if

09:57.788 --> 10:01.128
you're an ethnographer,
an anthropologist and try to

10:01.129 --> 10:04.749
see how does this make sense,
how does this gospel that this

10:04.750 --> 10:07.430
text proclaimed,
how did it make sense to people

10:07.429 --> 10:09.339
and why was it so wildly
popular,

10:09.340 --> 10:12.990
because it was wildly popular.

10:12.990 --> 10:16.270
First, you have to know a bit
about the Greco-Roman novel.

10:16.269 --> 10:18.429
I talked about this early in
the semester when we talked

10:18.432 --> 10:19.732
about the Acts of the Apostles.

10:19.730 --> 10:23.100
Greek novels are very
interesting, there are six of

10:23.096 --> 10:25.586
them that survive in almost
whole,

10:25.590 --> 10:27.440
and in fragments of a lot of
others,

10:27.440 --> 10:30.120
and you can find these in the
English translation.

10:30.120 --> 10:34.680
Help me out teaching fellows,
what's the name of the

10:34.678 --> 10:37.628
collection of the Greek novels?

10:37.629 --> 10:40.439
It's called something like
Collected Greek Novels,

10:40.436 --> 10:40.776
yes.

10:40.779 --> 10:44.849
Reardon is the editor:
R-E-A-R-D-O-N.

10:44.850 --> 10:48.410
If you want to dip into these
just get the collected ancient

10:48.413 --> 10:51.983
novels - edited by Reardon and
read through some of them.

10:51.980 --> 10:53.720
They're very entertaining.

10:53.720 --> 10:56.070
One of the things that the
typical plot is,

10:56.070 --> 11:00.060
a woman of high elite status,
these are--

11:00.058 --> 11:03.048
these usually are people--young
people of elite families--

11:03.048 --> 11:05.748
they're usually set in
classical Greece although

11:05.750 --> 11:08.450
they're not written until the
first century,

11:08.450 --> 11:10.390
second century,
third century of our era,

11:10.389 --> 11:13.339
but they're often set in a more
classical Greek setting.

11:13.340 --> 11:16.690
They are upper class people:
a young woman who's of an upper

11:16.687 --> 11:20.147
class family falls in love with
a young man who's also from an

11:20.148 --> 11:22.878
upper class family,
and in a few of the Greek

11:22.884 --> 11:26.354
novels they actually get married
and have a little honeymoon,

11:26.350 --> 11:28.710
a brief honeymoon period,
and then all hell breaks loose

11:28.710 --> 11:29.740
and something happens.

11:29.740 --> 11:32.740
In some cases they don't even
get to consummate their love yet

11:32.743 --> 11:34.273
because something intervenes.

11:34.269 --> 11:36.989
Usually what happens is a
disaster strikes.

11:36.990 --> 11:39.990
In one--I think I mentioned
this to you,

11:39.990 --> 11:43.020
by Chariton,
Chaereas and Callirhoe,

11:43.019 --> 11:47.629
in one the husband gets jealous
thinking that his wife has had

11:47.629 --> 11:50.499
an affair he--
in a fit of rage--he kicks her,

11:50.503 --> 11:53.083
she falls over and everybody
thinks she's dead.

11:53.080 --> 11:55.490
So he's grieving and grieving
because of course he's still

11:55.491 --> 11:56.551
madly in love with her.

11:56.548 --> 11:58.188
They're both madly in love with
each other.

11:58.190 --> 12:01.710
But they bury her in the tomb,
the big family tomb that's on

12:01.707 --> 12:03.197
the shore by the water.

12:03.200 --> 12:05.680
Of course like--and Shakespeare
stole mercilessly from these

12:05.681 --> 12:07.831
kinds of things--
she wakes up in the tomb after

12:07.826 --> 12:10.336
they've already sealed the tomb
and she can't get out,

12:10.340 --> 12:12.570
and she says,
woe is me, they've buried me,

12:12.570 --> 12:15.790
I will never see my loved one.

12:15.788 --> 12:19.778
Pirates, who happened to be
outside, there were always

12:19.775 --> 12:23.005
pirates in these things,
lots of pirates.

12:23.009 --> 12:25.939
Pirates happened to be outside,
they hear her crying,

12:25.942 --> 12:27.692
and they break into the tomb.

12:27.690 --> 12:30.090
They were just going to do a
little tomb robbery,

12:30.090 --> 12:32.100
they were just attempting a
tomb robbery,

12:32.100 --> 12:35.200
but they find this living
maiden--not maiden anymore she's

12:35.196 --> 12:38.146
had sex now so she's a maid,
not a maiden anymore.

12:38.149 --> 12:40.229
Anyway a beautiful young woman
and they decide,

12:40.229 --> 12:42.899
well great this--we can get
more for her than from the stuff

12:42.897 --> 12:43.437
in here.

12:43.440 --> 12:46.860
We'll kidnap her,
sell her as into slavery at

12:46.860 --> 12:48.260
some other port.

12:48.259 --> 12:49.659
And they do.

12:49.658 --> 12:52.608
So they take her off,
they take her around over to

12:52.605 --> 12:54.525
Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.

12:54.529 --> 12:57.109
And there they sell her to this
wealthy man.

12:57.110 --> 13:00.120
He falls in love with her,
so he decides to marry her.

13:00.120 --> 13:02.690
And then something else happens
and they go to the King of

13:02.692 --> 13:05.222
Persia, and the King of Persia
falls in love with her.

13:05.220 --> 13:07.200
So he steals her away from the
Greek guy.

13:07.200 --> 13:09.800
And then wars break out.

13:09.798 --> 13:12.718
And her husband as soon as he
finds that she's been stolen

13:12.715 --> 13:15.835
away, he starts traveling all
around the Mediterranean looking

13:15.836 --> 13:16.446
for her.

13:16.450 --> 13:19.520
And he'll get just to
Alexandria in Egypt the day

13:19.518 --> 13:22.968
after she's been sold off to
slavery someplace else.

13:22.970 --> 13:25.090
These two traipse around the
Mediterranean looking for

13:25.092 --> 13:27.622
their--because they're madly in
love and they want to consummate

13:27.618 --> 13:28.378
their marriage.

13:28.379 --> 13:30.949
And of course everybody falls
in love with both of them.

13:30.950 --> 13:33.960
No matter where this young
woman goes every man around

13:33.961 --> 13:36.861
falls in love with her,
and that causes problems all

13:36.860 --> 13:37.940
over the place.

13:37.940 --> 13:40.510
Of course in the ancient world
everywhere the young man goes

13:40.508 --> 13:42.378
everybody falls in love with
him,

13:42.379 --> 13:44.659
both women and men,
because that was quite common.

13:44.658 --> 13:47.448
And so they both have all this
eroticism.

13:47.450 --> 13:50.310
They're describing their beauty
all the time.

13:50.308 --> 13:52.948
Usually there's someplace in
the novel where they can get

13:52.952 --> 13:53.332
naked.

13:53.330 --> 13:56.690
Where somehow the plot happens
where she's stripped because

13:56.691 --> 13:59.981
she's going to be punished,
or he's stripped because he's

13:59.982 --> 14:03.022
going to be crucified,
or something has happened and

14:03.022 --> 14:06.592
the story kind of concentrates
on how beautiful their bodies

14:06.586 --> 14:07.006
are.

14:07.009 --> 14:09.469
In other words,
the novels are about being

14:09.474 --> 14:12.484
faithful to the person you loved
in your youth,

14:12.480 --> 14:15.450
because they both try not to
have sex with anybody else if

14:15.446 --> 14:16.796
they can at all do that.

14:16.798 --> 14:19.248
Be faithful to your lover from
your youth.

14:19.250 --> 14:23.530
But the erotic drive is just
all the way through the novel.

14:23.528 --> 14:26.608
The novels are full of
eroticism and the eroticism of

14:26.607 --> 14:27.197
the eye.

14:27.200 --> 14:31.470
This Acts of Paul and
Thecla is so wonderfully

14:31.471 --> 14:35.661
like those things because it
also uses eroticism.

14:35.658 --> 14:39.778
Did you notice how often Thecla
is portrayed as gorgeous and

14:39.782 --> 14:42.892
even stripped so you,
as the voyeuristic reader,

14:42.892 --> 14:46.092
can imagine her naked body
before she's thrown into the vat

14:46.086 --> 14:47.736
of killer man-eating seals.

14:47.740 --> 14:48.880
You remember that scene.

14:48.879 --> 14:53.669
The erotic is here in this
text, but the erotic is used to

14:53.668 --> 14:55.598
the opposite purpose.

14:55.600 --> 15:00.510
The erotic is used to actually
teach you to avoid sex.

15:00.509 --> 15:04.329
To really read this text of the
Acts of Paul and Thecla

15:04.328 --> 15:08.088
it helps if you know the way
these ancient Greek novels often

15:08.086 --> 15:08.646
work.

15:08.649 --> 15:11.889
Let's look at the text now,
and I'll show you some of these

15:11.886 --> 15:12.386
things.

15:12.389 --> 15:13.479
Look at paragraph 18.

15:13.480 --> 15:16.710
I don't know if you have the
pages, there are a couple of

15:16.712 --> 15:19.602
different editions that I've
used in this class.

15:19.600 --> 15:22.290
I don't know which I had for
downloading with you but I'm

15:22.293 --> 15:24.993
going to not talk about page
numbers most of the time but

15:24.985 --> 15:27.765
paragraph numbers because the
texts are all divided up into

15:27.774 --> 15:28.934
paragraph numbers.

15:28.928 --> 15:45.668
In paragraph 18,
Thecla has gone off to prison.

15:45.668 --> 15:49.458
Of course the story goes that
she hears Paul preaching in her

15:49.456 --> 15:53.306
hometown, and she falls in love
with him just from hearing his

15:53.306 --> 15:54.186
preaching.

15:54.190 --> 15:56.330
Now the text doesn't really say
she falls in love with

15:56.331 --> 15:57.141
him, right?

15:57.139 --> 16:00.459
But it describes her as being
enamored of Paul,

16:00.458 --> 16:04.358
at least of his gospel,
and so she goes to visit him in

16:04.355 --> 16:05.145
prison.

16:05.149 --> 16:07.629
He's been thrown in prison
because wherever Paul goes he

16:07.629 --> 16:09.659
gets into trouble with the men
of the city.

16:09.658 --> 16:11.638
And it's always the men of the
city he gets in trough with,

16:11.636 --> 16:11.906
right?

16:11.908 --> 16:15.508
It's because he's teaching
wives not to have sex with their

16:15.509 --> 16:16.689
husbands anymore.

16:16.690 --> 16:19.160
Well, this gets the guys upset.

16:19.158 --> 16:22.668
He's teaching unmarried women
not to get married and young men

16:22.671 --> 16:23.881
not to get married.

16:23.879 --> 16:26.199
Well, if you don't get married
and you don't have sex,

16:26.200 --> 16:27.710
you're not going to have
children, you're not going to

16:27.711 --> 16:29.571
have babies,
and the households will all

16:29.566 --> 16:30.196
fall apart.

16:30.200 --> 16:32.770
So Paul gets in trouble
precisely because of his

16:32.765 --> 16:35.115
anti-household,
anti-sex message because the

16:35.115 --> 16:38.035
men of the city know full well
that if you don't have sex and

16:38.044 --> 16:40.404
you don't have households,
you're not going to have a city.

16:40.399 --> 16:44.509
Civilization is going to fall
apart, in their view.

16:44.509 --> 16:47.109
He's arrested,
she goes to visit him in

16:47.114 --> 16:48.894
prison,
and then it says,

16:48.889 --> 16:52.089
"To the jailer she gave a
silver mirror,"

16:52.091 --> 16:55.491
a mirror is in the ancient
world is a typical sign for

16:55.488 --> 16:57.088
femininity in women.

16:57.090 --> 17:00.990
On tombstones you'll often see
a mirror carved when it's a

17:00.991 --> 17:04.211
girl, a young girl who's buried
at that tomb.

17:04.210 --> 17:06.450
So she gives the jailer her
silver mirror.

17:06.450 --> 17:09.130
She went into Paul and sat at
his feet and heard him proclaim

17:09.125 --> 17:10.235
the mighty acts of God.

17:10.240 --> 17:13.980
Paul feared nothing but
comported himself with full

17:13.978 --> 17:16.968
confidence in God,
and her faith was also

17:16.969 --> 17:19.959
increased as she kissed his
fetters.

17:19.960 --> 17:22.930
Next paragraph down 20:
"He commanded Paul to be

17:22.929 --> 17:24.699
brought to the judgment seat.

17:24.700 --> 17:28.250
But Thecla rolled herself on
the place where Paul taught as

17:28.249 --> 17:29.779
he sat in prison."

17:29.778 --> 17:36.648
She's rolling around in the
dust where Paul had sat earlier.

17:36.650 --> 17:40.620
Did you ever hear old people
talk about how in very strict

17:40.621 --> 17:43.131
Roman Catholic schools and
stuff,

17:43.130 --> 17:46.280
guys were not supposed to sit
in the same folding chair that a

17:46.279 --> 17:48.809
girl had just sat in because it
would be warm,

17:48.808 --> 17:53.388
and that was considered a
little too erotic?

17:53.390 --> 17:55.240
Yep.

17:55.240 --> 18:00.390
People were screwed up.

18:00.390 --> 18:05.970
"She stood there looking
steadily at Paul,"

18:05.965 --> 18:09.825
and a little further,
"Thecla sought for Paul as

18:09.825 --> 18:12.185
a lamb in the wilderness looks
about for shepherd."

18:12.190 --> 18:17.470


18:17.470 --> 18:22.350
In paragraph 22:
The young men and the maidens

18:22.353 --> 18:24.813
brought wood and straw that
Thecla might be burned,

18:24.808 --> 18:29.198
and as she was brought in naked
the governor wept and marveled

18:29.199 --> 18:31.429
at the power that was in her.

18:31.430 --> 18:33.900
I'm not too sure about the
writing here.

18:33.900 --> 18:37.380
Notice how over and over again
in this text there's something

18:37.380 --> 18:40.770
about kissing or marveling,
or looking, and right at the

18:40.766 --> 18:44.116
point where you think that the
body should be what's being

18:44.118 --> 18:47.378
referred to,
the author says something like

18:47.375 --> 18:50.615
"power"
or "message."

18:50.618 --> 18:55.108
There's a direction toward the
body all the way through this

18:55.111 --> 18:57.891
text,
and then a diversion of your

18:57.890 --> 19:02.230
attention as a reader away from
the body to the gospel.

19:02.230 --> 19:06.560
But the body is still there
just hovering right around the

19:06.558 --> 19:08.228
edge of your vision.

19:08.230 --> 19:10.340
So the text does that over and
over again.

19:10.338 --> 19:23.308
Look at paragraph 25--well over
and over again--

19:23.308 --> 19:25.768
I'm not going to go through
anymore examples of that because

19:25.767 --> 19:27.597
they're just all the way through
the text.

19:27.598 --> 19:31.068
Sex is the driving force of
this piece of literature even

19:31.070 --> 19:34.910
though the piece of literature
is going to try to teach you not

19:34.914 --> 19:37.664
to have sex,
and so there's also desire and

19:37.657 --> 19:39.287
passion all the way through.

19:39.288 --> 19:42.968
But, as I said,
the main message of the text is

19:42.970 --> 19:44.330
don't have sex.

19:44.328 --> 19:47.678
So look at paragraph 5,
this is where Paul is giving

19:47.680 --> 19:51.160
his own version of the
beatitudes that you're familiar

19:51.163 --> 19:53.203
with from Matthew and Luke.

19:53.200 --> 19:56.680
Paul's version is very
different though,

19:56.684 --> 19:57.404
right?

19:57.400 --> 20:00.290
It says in paragraph 5:
When Paul was entered into the

20:00.289 --> 20:02.009
house of Onesiphorus,
there was great joy,

20:02.006 --> 20:03.656
bowing of knees,
breaking of bread,

20:03.655 --> 20:07.195
and the word of God concerning
continence and the resurrection.

20:07.200 --> 20:08.980
Now the word
"continence"

20:08.977 --> 20:11.117
there is just referring to
asceticism,

20:11.118 --> 20:14.258
but in this text it doesn't
mean just controlling your sex

20:14.259 --> 20:16.299
life,
it means not having sex

20:16.296 --> 20:16.986
entirely.

20:16.990 --> 20:19.030
When this author,
this translation says

20:19.031 --> 20:21.611
"continence,"
you read that as complete

20:21.611 --> 20:24.031
sexual asceticism,
so that's the message.

20:24.028 --> 20:27.268
Notice how continence is linked
to resurrection,

20:27.265 --> 20:30.565
so the avoidance of sex is
directly linked to the

20:30.568 --> 20:33.458
resurrection of the body in this
text.

20:33.460 --> 20:36.600
These are the beatitudes:
Blessed are the pure in heart

20:36.598 --> 20:37.508
for they shall see God.

20:37.509 --> 20:41.589
Blessed are they who have kept
the flesh pure [and don't be

20:41.594 --> 20:44.764
misled in this text that means
not having sex]

20:44.761 --> 20:47.721
for they shall become a temple
of God.

20:47.720 --> 20:51.340
Blessed are the continent for
to them God will speak.

20:51.338 --> 20:54.188
Blessed are they who have
renounced this world for they

20:54.186 --> 20:55.976
shall be well pleasing unto God.

20:55.980 --> 20:59.760
Blessed are they who have wives
as if they had them not for they

20:59.759 --> 21:00.959
shall inherit God.

21:00.960 --> 21:03.570
Now that's actually almost a
quotation from Paul's letter.

21:03.568 --> 21:06.168
Paul talks about having,
as if you did not have,

21:06.172 --> 21:08.832
and this sort of thing,
living your life "as

21:08.829 --> 21:09.549
if."

21:09.548 --> 21:12.638
"Blessed are they who have
fear of God for they shall

21:12.644 --> 21:14.224
become angels of God."

21:14.220 --> 21:17.980
Now it might help you to know
there that angels in the ancient

21:17.982 --> 21:21.192
world are often depicted as
androgynous, as not being

21:21.191 --> 21:21.871
sexual.

21:21.868 --> 21:26.008
Anybody seen the movie
"Dogma"?

21:26.009 --> 21:27.029
How many have seen the movie
"Dogma"?

21:27.028 --> 21:28.638
Raise your hand so I can see
them.

21:28.640 --> 21:30.320
If you haven't seen the movie
"Dogma"

21:30.316 --> 21:30.786
go rent it.

21:30.788 --> 21:34.738
It's a highly important
theological movie.

21:34.740 --> 21:37.730
It's a very theological movie
actually.

21:37.730 --> 21:40.630
If you've seen it you remember
there's a place where the angel

21:40.634 --> 21:43.304
who's appearing to the woman
who's going to be the chosen

21:43.300 --> 21:45.180
one,
the Mary-type figure,

21:45.182 --> 21:48.782
he appears in her bedroom in
the middle of the night,

21:48.777 --> 21:49.397
right?

21:49.400 --> 21:51.780
She thinks he's there to rape
her so she takes a baseball bat

21:51.779 --> 21:53.929
and she's going to try to--
and he's trying to not get

21:53.933 --> 21:56.603
pummeled with the baseball bat,
so he pulls his pants down to

21:56.598 --> 21:57.988
show her that he's an angel.

21:57.990 --> 21:58.800
Why does that work?

21:58.798 --> 22:01.618
Because he doesn't have
genitalia, and so that proves to

22:01.615 --> 22:04.735
her, or it's supposed to prove
to her, she's just confused.

22:04.740 --> 22:08.860
She doesn't know her angelology
properly.

22:08.858 --> 22:11.738
If she knew her angelology she
would know that angels,

22:11.740 --> 22:13.980
at least in one dominant form
of tradition,

22:13.980 --> 22:16.260
are androgynous,
so they don't have genitalia or

22:16.257 --> 22:19.017
they're either completely male
or something like that,

22:19.019 --> 22:21.069
so that's why Paul says in this
beatitude,

22:21.068 --> 22:23.988
"You will be as the angels
of God."

22:23.990 --> 22:28.770
"Blessed are they who have
kept their baptism secure."

22:28.769 --> 22:31.769
Again one of the teachings of
early Christianity like this

22:31.772 --> 22:35.042
was, once you're baptized you're
not allowed to sin anymore.

22:35.038 --> 22:37.788
Baptism, according to some
teachings in early Christianity,

22:37.785 --> 22:40.575
would cleanse you of all the
sins you had committed up until

22:40.577 --> 22:41.947
the time you're baptized.

22:41.950 --> 22:44.730
What if you sin after your
baptism?

22:44.730 --> 22:48.150
Well, there might be other ways
to get forgiveness for that,

22:48.148 --> 22:49.538
but you're in trouble.

22:49.538 --> 22:52.658
This is why a lot of emperors
would not get baptized until

22:52.663 --> 22:55.353
their deathbed,
because they wanted to make

22:55.346 --> 22:59.156
sure--emperors have to sin,
they have to kill people,

22:59.164 --> 23:02.994
they have to fight wars,
so the idea was you just don't

23:02.994 --> 23:06.564
get baptized until right before
you die and then you can go to

23:06.564 --> 23:07.154
heaven.

23:07.150 --> 23:09.850
That's what this is talking
about, keeping your baptism

23:09.848 --> 23:10.198
pure.

23:10.200 --> 23:16.450


23:16.450 --> 23:19.170
Below that the last blessed,
"Blessed are the bodies of

23:19.169 --> 23:21.889
the virgins for they shall be
well pleasing to God and shall

23:21.888 --> 23:24.008
not lose the reward of their
purity."

23:24.009 --> 23:27.059
Right below that in paragraph
7:

23:27.058 --> 23:30.108
Thamyris sat at a nearby window
and listened night and day to

23:30.112 --> 23:33.302
the word of the virgin life,
as it was spoken by Paul,

23:33.304 --> 23:37.054
moreover she saw many women and
virgins going into Paul,

23:37.048 --> 23:41.598
she desired to be counted
worthy herself to stand in

23:41.595 --> 23:43.195
Paul's presence.

23:43.200 --> 23:48.100
Now look right at paragraph 9:
"All the women and young

23:48.095 --> 23:51.255
people go into him and are
taught by him.

23:51.259 --> 23:54.309
You must, he says,
fear one single God only and

23:54.308 --> 23:55.368
live chastely.

23:55.368 --> 23:57.568
And my daughter also,
like a spider at the window

23:57.573 --> 23:59.413
bound by his words,
is dominated by a new

23:59.409 --> 24:00.189
desire."

24:00.190 --> 24:03.150
This is her mother talking
because her mother is very upset

24:03.153 --> 24:05.863
that Thecla has done this
because Thecla broke off her

24:05.861 --> 24:08.981
great engagement to the richest
guy in town in order to follow

24:08.977 --> 24:09.537
Paul.

24:09.538 --> 24:11.028
So the mother doesn't like
this."...

24:11.028 --> 24:13.998
dominated by a new desire and a
fearful passion."

24:14.000 --> 24:16.970
So notice desire and passion
again are still part of the

24:16.967 --> 24:19.877
narrative, but now they're
redirected to a desire and a

24:19.881 --> 24:21.771
passion precisely for celibacy.

24:21.769 --> 24:27.449


24:27.450 --> 24:29.850
Also, the bad guys in this are
anti-ascetic.

24:29.849 --> 24:32.089
Look at paragraph 13.

24:32.088 --> 24:35.028
Paul and the good guys are all
ascetic.

24:35.029 --> 24:39.079
In paragraph 13,
in fact, right above that this

24:39.075 --> 24:42.725
is Demos and Hermogenes--
now a bunch of the names in

24:42.733 --> 24:45.733
this document actually come from
Pauline literature from the New

24:45.730 --> 24:46.350
Testament.

24:46.348 --> 24:49.508
So this writer probably knows
the Pastoral Epistles and some

24:49.512 --> 24:52.892
of the other writings that make
up the New Testament because the

24:52.892 --> 24:55.522
writer is taking details out of
Paul's life,

24:55.519 --> 24:57.029
as you would see it in the New
Testament,

24:57.029 --> 24:58.439
like these names for example.

24:58.440 --> 25:01.590
Demos is mentioned in the
Pastoral Epistles as someone for

25:01.586 --> 25:03.506
forsook Paul,
"being in love with the

25:03.509 --> 25:04.959
present world,"
is what it says,

25:04.960 --> 25:07.710
so this writer is
talking--using the same name.

25:07.710 --> 25:10.720
Demos is a bad guy here who had
been a follower of Paul but he's

25:10.723 --> 25:11.733
now betraying Paul.

25:11.730 --> 25:14.730
They say, "Who this man is
we do not know.

25:14.730 --> 25:17.340
But he deprives young men of
wives,

25:17.338 --> 25:20.178
maidens of husbands,
saying otherwise there is no

25:20.180 --> 25:23.850
resurrection for you except you
remain chaste and do not defile

25:23.849 --> 25:26.039
the flesh but keep it
pure."

25:26.038 --> 25:29.918
They know what Paul's teaching,
this radical asceticism,

25:29.917 --> 25:32.877
and Paul links this to the
resurrection.

25:32.880 --> 25:35.530
If you're not chaste and pure,
you won't experience the

25:35.525 --> 25:36.255
resurrection.

25:36.259 --> 25:38.539
Thamyris said to them,
"Come into my house you

25:38.538 --> 25:39.858
men and rest with me."

25:39.858 --> 25:42.658
And they went off to a
sumptuous banquet with much

25:42.655 --> 25:45.105
wine, great wealth,
and a splendid table.

25:45.108 --> 25:49.658
Notice, these guys who betray
Paul are not only teaching that

25:49.662 --> 25:52.852
people should get married and
have sex,

25:52.848 --> 25:54.918
but they're also having great
wine,

25:54.920 --> 25:57.490
they're having a lot of food,
they're doing all the

25:57.490 --> 25:58.570
anti-ascetic stuff.

25:58.569 --> 26:00.289
They're anti-ascetic.

26:00.288 --> 26:02.978
The enemies of Paul,
and the gospel here,

26:02.980 --> 26:05.230
are the anti-ascetics,
and of course that makes you

26:05.233 --> 26:07.783
think,
who does this look like that

26:07.779 --> 26:10.609
we've been reading lately who
says,

26:10.608 --> 26:13.638
"Drink a little wine for
your stomach's sake"?

26:13.640 --> 26:18.400
It's the writer of the Pastoral
Epistles.

26:18.400 --> 26:19.670
Remember we saw that?

26:19.670 --> 26:22.960
The writer of I Timothy
admonishes Timothy to drink

26:22.957 --> 26:25.847
wine, not to be an ascetic and
avoid wine.

26:25.848 --> 26:29.098
The writer of the Pastoral
Epistles teaches that it's the

26:29.104 --> 26:31.724
enemies of Paul who
forbid marriage.

26:31.720 --> 26:34.700
So the Pastoral Epistles,
if this author knows the

26:34.695 --> 26:37.425
Pastoral Epistles,
he's writing against it.

26:37.430 --> 26:40.550
And if the Pastoral Epistles
knows the Acts of Paul and

26:40.547 --> 26:42.897
Thecla, they're written
against this.

26:42.900 --> 26:45.680
We don't know that they knew
each other exactly,

26:45.680 --> 26:49.170
although it's entirely possible
that this author knew Paul's

26:49.170 --> 26:49.940
writings.

26:49.940 --> 26:54.220
So, basically,
what is the problem of life

26:54.220 --> 26:57.040
according to this author?

26:57.039 --> 26:58.399
Sex and family.

26:58.400 --> 27:01.320
What's the answer to life?

27:01.318 --> 27:03.918
Avoiding sex and family,
and then you experience the

27:03.923 --> 27:04.693
resurrection.

27:04.690 --> 27:09.260
What is the deeper problem then
that this is addressing?

27:09.259 --> 27:12.249
Here the problem you can see it
in paragraph 17.

27:12.250 --> 27:20.710


27:20.710 --> 27:23.060
This is Paul talking to the
proconsul:

27:23.058 --> 27:25.268
"The living God,
the God of vengeance,

27:25.269 --> 27:26.909
the jealous God,
the God who has need of

27:26.906 --> 27:29.336
nothing,
has sent me since he desires

27:29.335 --> 27:33.615
the salvation of men that I may
draw them away from corruption

27:33.615 --> 27:36.805
and impurity,
all pleasure and death,

27:36.806 --> 27:39.666
that they may sin no
more."

27:39.670 --> 27:44.060
Notice corruption,
impurity, pleasure,

27:44.060 --> 27:48.690
death, those are all linked
together.

27:48.690 --> 27:54.390
And here's the clue that helps
you see what's going on with the

27:54.394 --> 27:59.184
allure of asceticism for these
ancient Christians.

27:59.180 --> 28:02.180
In the ancient world…
This is something that's also

28:02.176 --> 28:04.066
changed radically since the
1970s.

28:04.068 --> 28:09.518
The 1970s changed dramatically
with regard to family,

28:09.520 --> 28:10.780
sexuality.

28:10.778 --> 28:13.028
It's the time of the sexual
revolution.

28:13.028 --> 28:18.238
The time of the people's
attitudes changing completely.

28:18.240 --> 28:21.850
We went back on that in the
1980s with the AIDs scare,

28:21.852 --> 28:25.812
and then the way right wingers
used AIDS to try to make sex

28:25.805 --> 28:27.505
fearful to everybody.

28:27.509 --> 28:29.729
But that was sort of
reactionary.

28:29.730 --> 28:33.050
The 1980s and a lot of the
1990s was reactionary to the

28:33.049 --> 28:34.279
sexual revolution.

28:34.279 --> 28:37.539
What happened in the 1970s that
changed the way people thought

28:37.537 --> 28:39.137
about these sorts of things?

28:39.140 --> 28:44.620
Two things that were big pushes
toward changing people's

28:44.623 --> 28:48.913
attitudes about sexuality and
the family.

28:48.910 --> 28:51.630
The women's movement,
which basically was springing

28:51.633 --> 28:54.793
off the civil rights movement
and saying that women and men

28:54.791 --> 28:57.311
are equal,
the radical notion that women

28:57.307 --> 29:01.377
are people is what feminism is,
so women and men are equal.

29:01.380 --> 29:04.630
Now why was that so important
for issues like sex?

29:04.630 --> 29:08.480
Because the way sexuality had
always been construed up to that

29:08.481 --> 29:10.821
point was that the sex act
itself,

29:10.818 --> 29:14.598
the heterosexual sex act--and
homosexual sex acts were always

29:14.596 --> 29:17.616
interpreted in the frame of
heterosexual sex--

29:17.618 --> 29:21.428
the heterosexual sex act
embodies in its very practices

29:21.430 --> 29:23.830
the hierarchy of man over woman.

29:23.829 --> 29:26.379
The idea is, man is superior.

29:26.380 --> 29:27.870
He's supposed to be on top.

29:27.868 --> 29:31.158
So the preferred position is
the missionary position.

29:31.160 --> 29:33.270
And in fact,
in ancient Judaism and

29:33.268 --> 29:36.058
Christianity it was considered
abominable--

29:36.058 --> 29:38.598
it was considered sex
"against nature"--

29:38.598 --> 29:42.568
to have the woman penetrate the
man in any way.

29:42.569 --> 29:43.899
Why?

29:43.900 --> 29:46.890
Because they considered it only
natural that the man is the

29:46.891 --> 29:49.111
superior one and he penetrates
the woman.

29:49.109 --> 29:53.099
It's male to penetrate;
it's feminine to be penetrated.

29:53.098 --> 29:56.768
And they believed that whether
it was penis/vagina sex,

29:56.768 --> 30:00.638
or whether it was oral sex,
or whether it was anything.

30:00.640 --> 30:03.440
Any kind of sexual intercourse
in the ancient world,

30:03.440 --> 30:05.410
and this continued pretty much
all the way until the modern

30:05.413 --> 30:06.933
world,
the man is superior,

30:06.932 --> 30:10.132
masculinity is superior,
and femininity is inferior.

30:10.130 --> 30:14.460
And that's embodied in the sex
act itsel: the superiority of

30:14.461 --> 30:18.501
the penetrator and the
inferiority of the penetrated.

30:18.500 --> 30:22.640
That's why the word
"fucked,"

30:22.638 --> 30:26.178
is a bad thing,
although actually most of think

30:26.183 --> 30:28.743
actually doing it is not
such a bad thing.

30:28.740 --> 30:32.560
Why is that in our--in slang
and curse words we still use

30:32.561 --> 30:35.021
words like "that
sucks"?

30:35.019 --> 30:38.179
A lot of people don't even know
that it refers to sex,

30:38.182 --> 30:40.452
but yeah of course it refers to
sex.

30:40.450 --> 30:42.550
Something that
"sucks"

30:42.548 --> 30:45.528
is considered bad,
it's not considered bad to

30:45.528 --> 30:46.948
be sucked.

30:46.950 --> 30:50.970
Something that fucks is not
bad, it's considered bad to be

30:50.973 --> 30:51.613
fucked.

30:51.609 --> 30:52.909
Why is that?

30:52.910 --> 30:56.850
Because our entire history has
penetration is superior;

30:56.849 --> 30:59.609
it's inferior to be penetrated.

30:59.609 --> 31:01.709
It's embodied in our culture.

31:01.710 --> 31:04.440
That started to be
challenged--now see you may find

31:04.442 --> 31:07.502
this kind of weird that I'm
insisting so literally on the

31:07.501 --> 31:10.781
interpretation of these words
because that may not be the way

31:10.780 --> 31:12.530
you use them or hear them.

31:12.528 --> 31:15.878
What I'm saying is that if it's
not the way you use them or hear

31:15.878 --> 31:18.858
them is because society has
changed radically in the last

31:18.856 --> 31:20.236
thirty or forty years.

31:20.240 --> 31:24.340
No longer is it automatically
considered that women are

31:24.337 --> 31:27.197
inferior to men,
and therefore the sex act is

31:27.198 --> 31:29.728
not considered to be one that
necessarily has to be

31:29.730 --> 31:30.440
hierarchal.

31:30.440 --> 31:32.800
The reason that people in the
ancient world,

31:32.798 --> 31:35.928
if they opposed homosexual sex,
the reason they opposed it is

31:35.931 --> 31:39.221
they assumed that one man would
have to be penetrated by another

31:39.220 --> 31:41.070
man,
and that was horrible because

31:41.073 --> 31:42.413
it disrupted the hierarchy.

31:42.410 --> 31:44.530
Or a woman would have to
penetrate another woman,

31:44.526 --> 31:46.286
and that also disrupted the
hierarchy.

31:46.288 --> 31:50.228
It has to be man/woman because
the hierarchy is man/woman,

31:50.230 --> 31:54.310
and every sex act was supposed
to imitate that hierarchy.

31:54.308 --> 31:56.828
That changed radically
beginning in the 1970s.

31:56.828 --> 31:59.738
The other big thing that
changed was the Pill.

31:59.740 --> 32:03.410
Now of course there had been
contraception for years and

32:03.412 --> 32:06.152
years before that,
for time immemorial.

32:06.150 --> 32:10.310
Human beings have always known
how to avoid getting pregnant to

32:10.309 --> 32:11.249
some extent.

32:11.250 --> 32:17.020
But with the 1970s and the wide
availability of contraceptive

32:17.019 --> 32:20.059
medicines,
drugs, it was much easier to

32:20.064 --> 32:24.044
have heterosexual sex and not be
worried about whether you were

32:24.037 --> 32:25.637
going to get pregnant.

32:25.640 --> 32:27.270
Before that,
and this is also something that

32:27.267 --> 32:29.267
people your age just have
trouble getting through your

32:29.272 --> 32:32.712
heads,
before that every time a woman

32:32.708 --> 32:38.038
had heterosexual sex of any kind
of penetrated way--

32:38.038 --> 32:40.958
the normal way people were
having sex she was--

32:40.960 --> 32:43.490
she had to at least be partly
worried that she was going to

32:43.493 --> 32:44.153
get pregnant.

32:44.150 --> 32:47.390
Every time a man and a woman
had sex, pregnancy,

32:47.391 --> 32:51.051
the danger of pregnancy,
was always there hanging over

32:51.046 --> 32:52.146
their heads.

32:52.150 --> 32:54.060
They could accept it and they
could want it,

32:54.063 --> 32:56.643
but if they didn't want it,
it was still hanging over their

32:56.644 --> 32:57.094
heads.

32:57.089 --> 32:59.519
That's not true for us today.

32:59.519 --> 33:03.969
We have enough reliable means
of contraception that we can

33:03.971 --> 33:08.891
pretty much decide that we want
to have sex just for fun without

33:08.894 --> 33:11.164
worrying about pregnancy.

33:11.160 --> 33:13.320
These two things,
the women's movement,

33:13.318 --> 33:16.058
which challenged the basic
hierarchy of the sex act,

33:16.058 --> 33:19.318
and the availability of
contraception,

33:19.318 --> 33:23.078
radically changed notions of
sex.

33:23.078 --> 33:25.658
Before that,
and here's what goes back to

33:25.656 --> 33:28.816
the ancient world,
I've mentioned this before and

33:28.821 --> 33:32.151
we've been talking about other
texts already but just to

33:32.145 --> 33:37.435
review: for the ancient mind,
sex was simply one cog in a

33:37.442 --> 33:38.302
wheel.

33:38.299 --> 33:40.679
Why did you have sex?

33:40.680 --> 33:42.680
In order to make babies.

33:42.680 --> 33:44.230
Why did you need to make babies?

33:44.230 --> 33:46.330
Because so many of them were
dying all the time.

33:46.328 --> 33:48.628
I think I've told you the
statistic that in the ancient

33:48.634 --> 33:50.684
world,
for the population of the Roman

33:50.680 --> 33:52.990
Empire just to remain stable--
not for it to grow,

33:52.986 --> 33:56.156
just for it to remain stable--
every woman who lived to

33:56.160 --> 33:58.790
childbearing age,
which was considered about

33:58.789 --> 34:02.089
fourteen in the ancient world,
had to have an average of five

34:02.094 --> 34:05.584
childbirths for the population
to remain stable.

34:05.578 --> 34:08.768
Think of these girls,
every one of you would have to

34:08.771 --> 34:12.591
have at least five childbirths
on average just to maintain the

34:12.590 --> 34:13.530
population.

34:13.530 --> 34:17.380
That just shows how many people
died in childbirth,

34:17.382 --> 34:21.242
how many women died in
childbirth, how many infants

34:21.235 --> 34:21.925
died.

34:21.929 --> 34:25.919
So in people's minds,
every birth was automatically

34:25.922 --> 34:28.482
linked in their mind to death.

34:28.480 --> 34:31.510
Because it was a dangerous
thing, people died often in

34:31.510 --> 34:34.720
childbirth, women died giving
birth, and so many children

34:34.715 --> 34:35.225
died.

34:35.230 --> 34:38.300
They also knew that they had to
keep having babies or the

34:38.298 --> 34:40.998
population would shrink,
and populations in the ancient

34:40.996 --> 34:43.876
world did often shrink,
and that was dangerous because

34:43.880 --> 34:45.750
whole cities could disappear.

34:45.750 --> 34:49.960
Whole populations could
disappear if the birthrate

34:49.963 --> 34:51.773
didn't remain high.

34:51.768 --> 34:54.578
Every birth was
considered--because you had to

34:54.583 --> 34:56.553
have babies;
why do you need babies?

34:56.550 --> 34:58.030
Because people were always
dying.

34:58.030 --> 35:03.480
The idea was you have sex,
birth, death,

35:03.481 --> 35:04.601
decay.

35:04.599 --> 35:09.119
Sex, birth, death,
decay, sex, birth,

35:09.117 --> 35:14.137
death, decay,
that's all what life is.

35:14.139 --> 35:19.769
Life is a big circle of sex,
birth, death and decay.

35:19.768 --> 35:25.428
Now comes Christianity which
says, we're going to teach you

35:25.425 --> 35:27.565
to break that cycle.

35:27.570 --> 35:30.470
How do you break the cycle?

35:30.469 --> 35:32.369
Well, it may not be intuitive
to you,

35:32.369 --> 35:35.109
but this seemed to be intuitive
to a lot of ancient people who

35:35.112 --> 35:37.812
incorporated this into their
teachings about Christianity.

35:37.809 --> 35:40.719
The Christians said,
stop it at sex.

35:40.719 --> 35:43.219
Break the cycle at sex.

35:43.219 --> 35:46.049
And that's why in these
text--it's not intuitive to us,

35:46.050 --> 35:48.850
but it's intuitive to
them--that if you want to stop

35:48.847 --> 35:50.827
that cycle of sex,
birth, death,

35:50.827 --> 35:54.647
and decay the easiest place for
human beings to stop it is at

35:54.652 --> 35:55.102
sex.

35:55.099 --> 35:56.979
Just break the cycle.

35:56.980 --> 35:59.760
Don't have sex,
don't have childbirth,

35:59.755 --> 36:01.175
don't have death.

36:01.179 --> 36:03.779
And of course they believed
they had an answer for the death

36:03.777 --> 36:06.117
part because they believed,
with Christianity,

36:06.123 --> 36:08.573
with Jesus Christ,
you would have resurrection,

36:08.572 --> 36:11.632
the body would be raised,
so you don't need childbirth

36:11.625 --> 36:12.195
anymore.

36:12.199 --> 36:15.999
If you're a faithful Christian
you'll live forever anyway,

36:15.996 --> 36:19.926
so you don't need to replenish
the population by having more

36:19.927 --> 36:20.657
babies.

36:20.659 --> 36:23.099
All the people who are
Christians, who come into

36:23.097 --> 36:25.637
Christ, will be resurrected and
will live forever,

36:25.641 --> 36:28.341
so there's no need for more and
more population.

36:28.340 --> 36:32.230
The reason that these texts,
and this is not the only one,

36:32.230 --> 36:34.490
this is just one place where
it's very clear,

36:34.489 --> 36:37.969
because whenever Paul talks
about sex he also talks about

36:37.972 --> 36:38.472
death.

36:38.469 --> 36:42.209
He talks about corruption and
he talks about resurrection.

36:42.210 --> 36:46.890
So this text very clearly pulls
all of these issues into one

36:46.894 --> 36:47.694
another.

36:47.690 --> 36:52.180
The basic sensibility of this
gospel that we moderns don't

36:52.179 --> 36:53.659
have,
and you have to imagine

36:53.664 --> 36:57.754
yourself back into their world,
is the radical availability of

36:57.748 --> 37:03.368
death and the linkage of death
with sex in ancient minds,

37:03.369 --> 37:07.709
and then also the linkage of
all these other things with

37:07.710 --> 37:10.630
sexuality and death and
corruption.

37:10.630 --> 37:14.300
Christianity said,
stop the cycle at sex and you

37:14.298 --> 37:17.808
get rid of death,
radical as that may sound to

37:17.813 --> 37:18.363
us.

37:18.360 --> 37:22.040
The problem of course is,
in this text,

37:22.039 --> 37:25.969
the people who find that
message very compelling are

37:25.972 --> 37:28.002
young women,
a lot of wives,

37:27.996 --> 37:31.626
although not all of them,
and even young men.

37:31.630 --> 37:35.480
Also, people who find that
message compelling happen to be

37:35.478 --> 37:36.288
lionesses.

37:36.289 --> 37:40.359
The female animals also like
this message,

37:40.364 --> 37:41.164
right?

37:41.159 --> 37:44.609
Who are the ones who gang up on
the bad male animals who are

37:44.608 --> 37:46.888
trying to attack Thecla in the
arena?

37:46.889 --> 37:48.059
The female lion.

37:48.059 --> 37:52.389
The text is set up as an
opposition.

37:52.389 --> 37:55.499
Now notice, I said young men
are also included in the good

37:55.503 --> 37:56.873
side of this sometimes.

37:56.869 --> 37:59.859
What is the opposition to
Paul's gospel?

37:59.860 --> 38:03.000
It's not men versus women,
right?

38:03.000 --> 38:05.360
What is the opposition?

38:05.360 --> 38:10.380
It's male heads of households
against everybody else who would

38:10.376 --> 38:13.006
be members of their household.

38:13.010 --> 38:17.550
The people who opposed Paul the
most in this text are male heads

38:17.545 --> 38:20.545
of households,
precisely because they

38:20.552 --> 38:25.572
recognize that challenging the
centrality of sex and childbirth

38:25.574 --> 38:29.224
will in itself challenge their
households.

38:29.219 --> 38:31.519
In their system,
you have to have sex and

38:31.521 --> 38:34.861
childbirth in order to maintain
the household structure.

38:34.860 --> 38:37.160
They're the ones who are
against Paul,

38:37.164 --> 38:40.344
so Paul appeals mostly to women
and young people.

38:40.340 --> 38:43.200
I already think--I read part of
that in paragraph 7,

38:43.204 --> 38:46.694
"The women and the virgins
are going to hear him."

38:46.690 --> 38:52.030
In paragraph 9 it talks about
women and young people going to

38:52.032 --> 38:56.222
him and are talking to him,
so that's who it.

38:56.219 --> 39:01.909
Then in 12, I read this passage
in paragraph 12,

39:01.909 --> 39:05.099
"He deprives young men of
wives and maidens of

39:05.103 --> 39:07.923
husbands,"
so he's depriving the men who

39:07.916 --> 39:11.876
want to continue the household
structure and that's why they're

39:11.878 --> 39:13.218
opposed to him.

39:13.219 --> 39:26.549
Notice paragraph 26 and 27:
this guy sees Thecla in a

39:26.547 --> 39:36.287
different place,
Alexander sees Thecla,

39:36.286 --> 39:44.996
and he falls in love with her.

39:45.000 --> 39:47.930
As is typical in these kinds of
texts, there's always a

39:47.932 --> 39:50.162
beautiful woman,
no man can resist her.

39:50.159 --> 39:54.619
He says he wants to marry her:
"I did not wish to marry

39:54.619 --> 39:56.079
Thamyris, I've been cast out of
the city ...

39:56.079 --> 39:58.839
Taking hold of Alexander [so
here she takes hold of this

39:58.835 --> 40:00.585
Alexander]
she ripped his cloak,

40:00.590 --> 40:03.330
took off the crown from his
head and made him a laughing

40:03.331 --> 40:03.731
stock.

40:03.730 --> 40:06.510
But he, partly out of love for
her and partly in shame at what

40:06.510 --> 40:08.290
had befallen him,
brought her before the

40:08.286 --> 40:08.876
governor.

40:08.880 --> 40:11.180
And when she confessed that she
had done these things he

40:11.177 --> 40:12.427
condemned her to the beasts.

40:12.429 --> 40:15.119
But the women were panic
stricken and cried out before

40:15.117 --> 40:17.347
the judgment seat,
"An evil judgment!

40:17.349 --> 40:18.229
A godless judgment!"

40:18.230 --> 40:20.770
But Thecla asked the governor
that she might remain pure until

40:20.766 --> 40:22.176
she was to fight with the beast.

40:22.179 --> 40:24.169
[In other words she says;
just don't make me have sex.

40:24.170 --> 40:26.420
I'll be glad to go into the
arena and fight with the beast,

40:26.420 --> 40:29.790
just don't make me have sex.]
A rich woman named Tryphaena,

40:29.789 --> 40:30.389
whose wife [correction:
husband]

40:30.387 --> 40:31.517
had died,
took her under her protection

40:31.519 --> 40:32.109
and found comfort.

40:32.110 --> 40:34.970
When the beasts were led in
procession they bound her to a

40:34.974 --> 40:36.894
fierce lioness,
and the Queen Tryphaena

40:36.885 --> 40:37.735
followed her.

40:37.739 --> 40:40.559
And as Thecla sat upon her
back, the lioness licked her

40:40.561 --> 40:42.861
feet, and all the crowed was
amazed."

40:42.860 --> 40:46.520
You have this situation
where--what's the problem with

40:46.521 --> 40:47.351
Alexander?

40:47.349 --> 40:48.979
He's shamed.

40:48.980 --> 40:51.360
So in this honor/shame system
of the ancient world,

40:51.356 --> 40:53.966
this is also an important
point: male heads of household

40:53.971 --> 40:55.541
occupy the position of honor.

40:55.539 --> 40:59.139
By tearing his clothes,
by knocking his crown off,

40:59.139 --> 41:02.169
she shames him in public,
and this of course totally

41:02.170 --> 41:05.320
disrupts this hierarchy of the
man over the woman,

41:05.320 --> 41:07.260
and that's part of what's going
on here.

41:07.260 --> 41:10.290
Women who refuse their role as
child bearers,

41:10.288 --> 41:13.318
as sex objects,
shame the men who put them in

41:13.315 --> 41:14.275
that role.

41:14.280 --> 41:18.400
And so that's what the conflict
is about, shaming men and

41:18.400 --> 41:21.640
rebelling against the household
structure.

41:21.639 --> 41:24.579
Then of course there's the
solidarity of women with

41:24.579 --> 41:25.579
everybody else.

41:25.579 --> 41:28.989
Notice in this,
Paul himself is rather

41:28.992 --> 41:30.932
ambiguously placed.

41:30.929 --> 41:31.809
He's a man.

41:31.809 --> 41:35.279
What is Paul's role in all of
this?

41:35.280 --> 41:38.920
I think it's interesting that
Paul doesn't come across in this

41:38.916 --> 41:42.256
text, at least in my reading,
as being a totally positive

41:42.255 --> 41:43.085
character.

41:43.090 --> 41:44.810
It praises him,
of course, and presents him as

41:44.806 --> 41:45.376
a man of God.

41:45.380 --> 41:47.820
But notice some of the things
that Paul does.

41:47.820 --> 41:50.880
Paul refuses to baptize her.

41:50.880 --> 41:53.910
Remember, she has to baptize
herself.

41:53.909 --> 41:57.329
This is that wonderful scene
where she's being martyred--

41:57.329 --> 41:58.489
they're trying to martyr her
again,

41:58.489 --> 42:02.289
and they strip her naked,
and then they have this big vat

42:02.291 --> 42:07.821
of killer man-eating seals--
yes that's what it says.

42:07.820 --> 42:11.840
You probably didn't even know
there were man-eating seals,

42:11.835 --> 42:15.495
but there were in the ancient
Mediterranean world.

42:15.500 --> 42:19.100
Instead of waiting to be thrown
into the vat of man eating

42:19.101 --> 42:20.901
seals,
a lightning bolt comes out of

42:20.896 --> 42:22.026
the sky,
strikes the water,

42:22.032 --> 42:24.482
all the man-eating seals die,
so God saves her.

42:24.480 --> 42:27.910
And then, though,
not to let the scene finish

42:27.905 --> 42:29.265
she--
she's all right,

42:29.268 --> 42:31.568
there's water,
she's asked Paul to baptize her

42:31.572 --> 42:35.632
once and he wouldn't do it,
so she throws herself into the

42:35.632 --> 42:37.942
water and baptizes herself.

42:37.940 --> 42:39.140
This is a woman!

42:39.139 --> 42:41.489
You're not supposed to let
women go around baptizing

42:41.489 --> 42:42.089
themselves!

42:42.090 --> 42:44.950
That could just disrupt all
kinds of stuff.

42:44.949 --> 42:48.359
Paul, at one point,
says he doesn't even know her

42:48.362 --> 42:49.432
in one place.

42:49.429 --> 42:50.919
He refuses to baptize her.

42:50.920 --> 42:52.920
And Paul gets in trouble.

42:52.920 --> 42:54.760
He runs off and hides in caves
and stuff.

42:54.760 --> 42:57.450
Who's the big hero of this
story?

42:57.449 --> 42:58.569
It's not Paul.

42:58.570 --> 43:02.140
He's one of the heroes
but it's really Thecla.

43:02.139 --> 43:07.029
It's this woman who totally
refuses to accept her role as a

43:07.034 --> 43:08.304
baby factory.

43:08.300 --> 43:11.570
And that's what women are in
the ancient world,

43:11.570 --> 43:12.780
baby factories.

43:12.780 --> 43:14.770
She totally refuses to accept
that role.

43:14.768 --> 43:18.038
She baptizes herself when Paul
hesitates to baptize her.

43:18.039 --> 43:20.359
And then of course at the very
end of the document,

43:20.355 --> 43:21.415
remember how it ends?

43:21.420 --> 43:24.110
She goes to Paul and she says
she wants to be a follower of

43:24.110 --> 43:26.290
his, and he kind of--again he
kind of just says,

43:26.289 --> 43:27.449
no go leave me alone.

43:27.449 --> 43:30.379
Paul is not all that great with
her.

43:30.380 --> 43:32.140
What does she do?

43:32.139 --> 43:33.829
First she inherits a bunch of
money;

43:33.829 --> 43:36.379
another rich woman left her a
ton of money,

43:36.380 --> 43:39.420
so she's able to support
herself and her mother.

43:39.420 --> 43:41.530
I guess she and her mother,
by the end of the thing,

43:41.527 --> 43:42.517
are now on good terms.

43:42.518 --> 43:45.388
I mean if you survive
lightening and man-eating seals,

43:45.391 --> 43:48.051
and God saves you,
maybe your mother will like you

43:48.045 --> 43:50.155
better and let you not get
married.

43:50.159 --> 43:52.839
She supports herself
financially through an

43:52.842 --> 43:55.652
inheritance that she gets from
another woman,

43:55.652 --> 43:57.572
and then what does she do?

43:57.570 --> 44:00.470
She cuts her hair short,
she dresses like a man,

44:00.465 --> 44:02.555
she actually becomes an
Apostle.

44:02.559 --> 44:06.279
She goes off to spread the
message of this ascetic,

44:06.284 --> 44:08.154
sex avoiding,
anti-family,

44:08.148 --> 44:11.798
anti-household gospel that she
got from Paul.

44:11.800 --> 44:16.730
Thecla becomes her own Apostle
spreading the message.

44:16.730 --> 44:19.660
Notice what kind of gospel
she's going around teaching.

44:19.659 --> 44:22.139
This is not pro-family,
this is not patriotic,

44:22.137 --> 44:23.567
this is not nationalism.

44:23.570 --> 44:27.760
This is putting all your eggs
in the basket of the kingdom of

44:27.760 --> 44:28.180
God.

44:28.179 --> 44:30.879
That's the only thing worth
living for, is the kingdom of

44:30.880 --> 44:31.170
God.

44:31.170 --> 44:33.320
How do you get into the kingdom
of God?

44:33.320 --> 44:36.060
By avoiding sex and avoiding
the household,

44:36.063 --> 44:39.073
that's how you get in and
enjoy--and remain.

44:39.070 --> 44:40.470
How do you avoid death?

44:40.469 --> 44:43.959
By being resurrected.

44:43.960 --> 44:46.970
This message is a very erotic
message, in a sense.

44:46.969 --> 44:49.829
It's not getting sexual
eroticism or sexual desire and

44:49.829 --> 44:51.609
throwing it all out the window.

44:51.610 --> 44:55.900
It's actually using eroticism
and the appeal to beauty,

44:55.896 --> 45:00.336
and the appeal of sexual
desire, and it's capitalizing on

45:00.344 --> 45:00.904
it.

45:00.900 --> 45:04.850
The author is trying to get
you, as a young person who's

45:04.849 --> 45:08.279
afraid about death,
to convert to a message of the

45:08.282 --> 45:12.052
gospel that will liberate you
from the cycle of corruption and

45:12.052 --> 45:15.202
death,
that you will get into if you

45:15.204 --> 45:18.704
agree to go along with sex,
birth, death,

45:18.697 --> 45:23.047
decay, and that's what you do
if you choose the household.

45:23.050 --> 45:25.680
It's a radical document.

45:25.679 --> 45:30.249
Now the question is,
is this a feminist document?

45:30.250 --> 45:32.160
It's a good question.

45:32.159 --> 45:34.939
Its raises Thecla up even above
Paul,

45:34.940 --> 45:38.320
and it gives a message of
liberation to women,

45:38.320 --> 45:42.190
at least from whatever it is
that keeps them down at the

45:42.186 --> 45:43.826
time,
which is the patriarchal

45:43.826 --> 45:44.316
household.

45:44.320 --> 45:46.510
It gives them a way out of that.

45:46.510 --> 45:49.730
This is one of the reasons that
there are a lot of women in the

45:49.726 --> 45:52.756
ancient world who became nuns,
who wanted to avoid the

45:52.760 --> 45:56.210
household, and you had women
running away from their husbands

45:56.210 --> 45:57.130
all the time.

45:57.130 --> 45:58.740
Church leaders talk about it.

45:58.739 --> 45:59.859
Why?

45:59.860 --> 46:02.390
Because that was--you had to
get out of the household if you

46:02.387 --> 46:04.657
wanted to have any kind of
independence or liberty.

46:04.659 --> 46:07.759
If you wanted to have any kind
of exercise of power you had to

46:07.757 --> 46:09.887
get out of the male dominated
household.

46:09.889 --> 46:12.089
So Christianity,
the whole strain of

46:12.092 --> 46:15.872
Christianity appealed to
precisely those kinds of people,

46:15.869 --> 46:18.759
and the author is trying to get
you as a young person to make

46:18.762 --> 46:19.682
that choice also.

46:19.679 --> 46:24.199
Now the big question is do you
think it's feminist?

46:24.199 --> 46:27.659
Is this feminism or is there
something wrong with thinking

46:27.661 --> 46:29.061
about it as feminism?

46:29.059 --> 46:32.369
If you're writing a paper this
week maybe you can talk about

46:32.367 --> 46:32.757
that.

46:32.760 --> 46:37.520
Another big question is,
do you think this author is

46:37.523 --> 46:41.543
actually attacking the Pastoral
Epistles?

46:41.539 --> 46:45.249
Are the Pastoral Epistles
attacking this author?

46:45.250 --> 46:49.830
They are presenting two
diametrically opposed versions

46:49.826 --> 46:50.686
of Paul.

46:50.690 --> 46:52.550
They both claim Paul as their
author.

46:52.550 --> 46:55.450
They both claim to be
representing Paul's gospel,

46:55.452 --> 46:56.482
Paul's message.

46:56.480 --> 46:59.730
But one of them is very
pro-household,

46:59.728 --> 47:03.238
and marriage,
and sex, and childbirth;

47:03.239 --> 47:06.779
and the other is anti-marriage,
anti-household,

47:06.777 --> 47:09.237
anti-childbirth,
and anti-sex.

47:09.239 --> 47:12.539
They both claim Paul as the
author of their gospel.

47:12.539 --> 47:13.839
Do they know each other?

47:13.840 --> 47:15.350
That's the interesting
historical question.

47:15.349 --> 47:19.299
Or is it just by accident that
we have these two very radically

47:19.300 --> 47:21.530
different appropriations of
Paul?

47:21.530 --> 47:24.570
All of those questions I hope
you'll talk about in your

47:24.574 --> 47:26.664
discussion groups later this
week,

47:26.659 --> 47:29.979
and if you're writing papers,
push yourself to answer some

47:29.976 --> 47:31.776
big questions in your papers.

47:31.780 --> 47:32.960
Any questions?

47:32.960 --> 47:34.440
Yes.

47:34.440 --> 47:36.840
Student:  Is it possible
or conceivable that a woman

47:36.844 --> 47:37.844
would have written it?

47:37.840 --> 47:39.920
Prof: Is it possible or
conceivable that a woman would

47:39.916 --> 47:40.536
have written it?

47:40.539 --> 47:41.989
It's completely possible.

47:41.989 --> 47:44.359
We don't know who the author
was.

47:44.360 --> 47:47.680
Wait, is this the one
that--what's the one that

47:47.679 --> 47:51.789
Tertullian says up--okay he
knew--we actually know that it

47:51.793 --> 47:54.323
was written by a priest,
right?

47:54.320 --> 47:55.240
Student:  Yes.

47:55.239 --> 47:56.929
Prof: This one wasn't
written by a woman,

47:56.931 --> 47:59.021
but for some of the text in the
ancient world they could be

47:59.018 --> 48:00.588
written by--
Student:  Not everyone

48:00.585 --> 48:01.275
believes Tertullian.

48:01.280 --> 48:02.540
Prof: What?

48:02.539 --> 48:04.229
Student:  Not everyone
believes Tertullian.

48:04.230 --> 48:05.890
Student:
>

48:05.889 --> 48:08.009
Prof: Okay
Tertullian--some people say

48:08.010 --> 48:09.120
Tertullian was wrong.

48:09.119 --> 48:11.739
Tertullian is a church father
who wrote around the year 200 in

48:11.735 --> 48:12.075
Latin.

48:12.079 --> 48:14.339
He knows the story,
and he condemns it partly

48:14.340 --> 48:16.960
because he doesn't want Thecla
baptizing herself.

48:16.960 --> 48:21.280
She's too big for her britches
in Tertullian's view.

48:21.280 --> 48:25.630
Tertullian says that they know
who wrote it and it was a man

48:25.634 --> 48:30.214
but the Teaching Fellow says
that other people dispute that.

48:30.210 --> 48:33.050
Okay, see you next week.

48:33.050 --> 48:39.000