Publisher Description

Saint Thecla was one of the most prominent figures of early Christianity who provided a model of virginity and a role-model for women in the early Church. She was the object of cult and of pilgrimage and her tale in the Acts of Paul and Thecla made a tremendous impact on later hagiographies of both female and male saints. This volume explores this impact on medieval hagiographical texts composed in Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Greek, Irish, Latin, Persian, and Syriac. It investigates how they evoked and/or invoked Thecla and her tale in constructing the lives and story worlds of their chosen saints and offers detailed original readings of the lives of various heroines and heroes. The book adds further depth and nuance to our understanding of Thecla's popularity and the spread of her legend and cult.

Author Biography

Ghazzal Dabiri is an Iranist who specializes in narratives of kingship, kinship, and sainthood. She received her PhD from UCLA and has held positions at various institutions including Columbia University and currently the University of Maryland. A Fulbright Scholar, she also held a European Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at Ghent University. Flavia Ruani is a researcher at the Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes, CNRS, Paris. She specializes in late antique and medieval Syriac Christianity, focussing on religious controversies, manuscript studies, hagiography, and the history of Manichaeism. She has translated into French the Hymns against Heresies by Ephrem the Syrian (2018).

Table of Contents

Introduction Ghazzal Dabiri; Part I. An Act to Follow: 1. A Cainite invocation of Thecla? The reception of the Acts of Paul in North Africa as exemplified in Tertullian's de Baptismo Jeremy W. Barrier; 2. Saint Thecla in Geez hagiographical literature: From confessor to martyr Damien Labadie; 3. Versified martyrs: The reception of Thecla from the Latin West to Medieval Ireland Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh; 4. The reception of the Acts of Thecla in Armenia: Thecla as a model of representation for holy women in ancient Armenian literature Valentina Calzolari; 5. Thecla beyond Thecla: Secondary characters in Syriac hagiography Flavia Ruani; 6. Shifting the poetics of gender ambiguity: The Coptic naturalisation of Thecla Arietta Papaconstantinou; Part II. An Act To Surpass: 7. Thecla, the first cross-dresser? The Acts of Paula and Thecla and the lives of Byzantine transvestite saints Julie Van Pelt; 8. From Diotima to Thecla and beyond: Virginal voice in the lives of Helia and Constantina Virginia Burrus; 9. Reception and rejection: Thecla and the Acts of Paul and Thecla in the Passion of Eugenia and other Latin texts Klazina Staat; 10. A medieval Sufi Thecla? Female civic and spiritual leadership in Attr's "Tale of the Virtuous Woman" and the Life and Passion of Eugenia Ghazzal Dabiri; Afterword: Thecla and the power of an open story Kate Cooper.

Review

'The book adds further depth and nuance to our understanding of Thecla's popularity and the spread of her legend and cult.' Johannes van Oort, Vigiliae Christianae
'[This] book adds further depth and nuance to our understanding of Thecla's popularity and the spread of her legend and cult.' Mark Beumer, Kleio-Historia

Promotional

Explores Saint Thecla and her story as preeminent models for medieval hagiographers across Eurasia and North Africa.

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