Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:06:45.136Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 1 - A Cainite Invocation of Thecla?

The Reception of the Acts of Paul in North Africa as Exemplified in Tertullian’s de Baptismo

from Part I - An Act to Follow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2022

By
Jeremy W. Barrier
Edited by
Ghazzal Dabiri  and
Flavia Ruani
Ghazzal Dabiri
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Flavia Ruani
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Get access

Summary

In this chapter, I explore the connections between Tertullian’s de Baptismo, the Acts of Paul, and the supposedly Cainite Gnostic text, the Gospel of Judas. Are Tertullian’s comments concerning both Thecla and Cainites accurate? First, in de Baptismo, Tertullian attacks a Cainite woman for using the example of Thecla as a model to justify women teaching in churches. Further, he criticizes the Cainite woman for denying the practice of baptism within some of the churches of North Africa. Second, the Gospel of Judas—a ‘so called’ Cainite text—seems to affirm the rite of baptism. Do Tertullian’s comments concerning Cainites betray an unfamiliarity with it? Third, in the Acts of Paul, the rite of baptism is affirmed generally, while specifically Thecla is commissioned to teach and even baptizes herself. Why Tertullian would cite the case of Thecla is not clear. How does one synthesize this seemingly contradictory evidence? This chapter focuses upon sorting out these inconsistencies. Ultimately, this chapter demonstrates how some of the churches of North Africa were reading the Acts of Paul as a form of hagiography that was inspiring women in their faith while also impacting their understanding of Christian rituals and practices (i.e., baptism and missions).

Keywords

Acts of PaulTertullianGnosticismGospel of JudasCainitesBaptismRitualHeresyHagiographyThecla
Type
Chapter
Information
Thecla and Medieval Sainthood
<I>The Acts of Paul and Thecla</I> in Eastern and Western Hagiography
 , pp. 35 - 60
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bardy, Gustave. “Cainites.” In Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1953: 11: 226–228.Google Scholar
Bareille, Georges. “Cainites.” In Dictionnaire de théologie catholique. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1904: 2.2: 1307–1309.Google Scholar
Barrier, Jeremy W. The Acts of Paul and Thecla: A Critical Introduction and Commentary. WUNT 2.270. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009.Google Scholar
Behr, John. Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Borleffs, Jan William Philip, ed. Tertulliani Opera: Pars I, edited by Dekkers, Eligius, Borleffs, Jan William Philip, Willems, R., Refoulé, F., Diercks, G. F., and Kroymann, E.. Corpus Christianorum. Turnhout: Typographi Brepols Editores Pontificii, 1954.Google Scholar
Brakke, David. The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Burrus, Virginia. Chastity as Autonomy: Women in the Stories of Apocryphal Acts. Queenston: Mellen, 1987.Google Scholar
Conybeare, Fred Cornwallis. Myth, Magic, and Morals: A Study of Christian Origins. 2nd ed. London: Watts & Co, 1910.Google Scholar
Cross, L., and Livingston, E. A., eds. “Cainites.” In The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005: 215.Google Scholar
Cross, L., and Livingston, E. A., “Ophites.” In The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005: 984.Google Scholar
Crum, Walter E. A Coptic Dictionary, edited by Robinson, James M.. Ancient Language Resource. Portland: Wipf and Stock, 2005.Google Scholar
Davies, Stevan L. The Revolt of the Widows: The Social World of the Apocryphal Acts. London: Feffer and Simmons, 1980.Google Scholar
Davis, Stephen J. The Cult of St. Thecla: A Tradition of Women’s Piety in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
DeConick, April D. Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says. Rev. ed. London: Continuum, 2009.Google Scholar
Delehaye, Hippolyte. Les Légendes Hagiographiques. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1905.Google Scholar
Delehaye, Hippolyte. Les Légendes grecques des saints militaires. Paris: Picard, 1909.Google Scholar
Delehaye, Hippolyte. Cinq leçons sur la méthode hagiographique. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1934.Google Scholar
Dunn, Peter Wallace. “The Acts of Paul and the Pauline Legacy in the Second Century.” PhD diss., Queen’s College, University of Cambridge, 1996.Google Scholar
Eder, Walter. “Late Antiquity: I. The Historical Period.” In Brill’s New Pauly-Antiquity, Vol. 7, edited by Schneider, Helmuth and Cancik, Hubert. Leiden: Brill, 2005: 260–261.Google Scholar
Ehrman, Bart D. “Christianity Turned on Its Head: The Alternative Vision of the Gospel of Judas.” In The Gospel of Judas. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2007: 77–102.Google Scholar
Ehrman, Bart D. The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
Emmel, Stephen. “The Presuppositions and the Purpose of the Gospel of Judas.” In The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas, edited by Scopello, Madeleine. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 62. Leiden: Brill, 2008: 33–40.Google Scholar
Evans, Ernest, ed. and trans. Tertullian’s Homily on Baptism: The Text Edited with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary. London: SPCK, 1964.Google Scholar
Gathercole, Simon J. The Gospel of Judas: Rewriting Early Christianity. Oxford; Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Gathercole, Simon J. “Das Judasevangelium.” Zeitschrift für Neues Testament 21.41 (2018): 25–41.Google Scholar
Geerard, Maurice, ed. “Acta Pauli.” In Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testamenti. Corpus Christianorum. Turnhout: Brepols, 1992.Google Scholar
Georgios, Makris. “Acta Sanctorum.” In Brill’s New Pauly-Antiquity, Vol. 1, edited by Schneider, Helmuth and Cancik, Hubert. Leiden: Brill, 2001: 119–120.Google Scholar
Grant, Robert M. Irenaeus of Lyons. London; New York: Routledge, 1997.Google Scholar
Hays, Richard. Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Hays, Richard. The Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as Interpreter of Israel’s Scripture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.Google Scholar
Hurtado, Larry W. The Earliest Christian Manuscripts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins. Grand Rapids; Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2006.Google Scholar
Jensen, Anne. Thekla – die Apostolin: Ein apokrypher Text neu entdeckt: Übersetzt und kommentiert. Freiburg; Basel; Wien: Herder, 1995.Google Scholar
Jensen, Robin M. “Baptismal Rites and Architecture.” In A People’s History of Christianity: Volume 2, Late Ancient Christianity, edited by Burrus, Virginia. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005: 123–124.Google Scholar
Johnson, Scott F. The Life and Miracles of Thekla: A Literary Study. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies, 2006.Google Scholar
Kasser, Rodolphe, Meyer, Marvin W., Wurst, Gregor, Gaudard, François, and Ehrman, Bart D., eds. The Gospel of Judas. Washington, DC: National Geographic: 2008.Google Scholar
Kasser, Rodolphe, and Wurst, Gregor. The Gospel of Judas Together with the Letter of Peter to Philip, James, and a Book of Allogenes from Codex Tchacos. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2007.Google Scholar
MacDonald, Dennis R. The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983.Google Scholar
Mackay, Thomas W. “Observations on P. Bodmer X (Apocryphal Correspondence between Paul and the Corinthian Saints).” In Papyrologica Bruxellensia 18: Actes du XVe Congrès International de Papyrologie. Brussels: Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, 1979: 3.119–128.Google Scholar
Mackay, Thomas W. “Content and Style in Two Pseudo-Pauline Epistles (3 Corinthians and the Epistle to the Laodiceans).” In Apocryphal Writings and Latter-Day Saints, edited by Wilfred Griggs, C. and Reynolds, Noel B.. Salt Lake City: Brigham Young University, 1986: 215–240.Google Scholar
MacMullen, Ramsay. The Second Church: Popular Christianity, A.D. 200–400. Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplement Series 1. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2009.Google Scholar
Meyer, Marvin W. Judas: The Definitive Collection of Gospels and Legends about the Infamous Apostle of Jesus. New York: HarperOne, 2007.Google Scholar
Meyer, Marvin W. The Gospel of Judas: On a Night with Judas Iscariot. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2011.Google Scholar
Painchaud, Louis. “Polemical Aspects of the Gospel of Judas.” In The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas, edited by Scopello, Madeleine. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 62. Leiden: Brill, 2008: 171–186.Google Scholar
Payton, James R. Jr. Irenaeus on the Christian Faith: A Condensation of Against Heresies. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 2012.Google Scholar
Pearson, Birger. Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt. New York: T & T Clark International, 2004.Google Scholar
Porter, Stanley E., and Heath, Gordon L.. The Lost Gospel of Judas: Separating Fact from Fiction. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.Google Scholar
Pouderon, Bernard. “Judas, l’homme double. Recherches sur les archétypes du disciple qui trahit Jésus dans l’Évangile de Judas.” In The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas, edited by Scopello, Madeleine. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 62. Leiden: Brill, 2008: 81–96.Google Scholar
Rasimus, Tuomas. Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 68. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2014.Google Scholar
Roberts, Colin H. “The Acts of Paul and Thecla.” In The Antinoopolis Papyri Part 1. London: Egyptian Exploration Society, 1950: 26–28.Google Scholar
Robinson, Gesine Schenke. “The Relationship of the Gospel of Judas to the New Testament and to Sethianism: Appended by a New English Translation of the Gospel of Judas.” Journal of Coptic Studies 10 (2008): 63–98.Google Scholar
Robinson, Gesine Schenke. “An Update on the Gospel of Judas (after Additional Fragments Resurfaced).” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 102, no. 1 (2011): 110–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, James M. Secrets of Judas: The Story of the Misunderstood Disciple and His Lost Gospel. New York: HarperOne, 2007.Google Scholar
Rordorf, Willy. “Tertullien et les Actes de Paul (à propos de bapt. 17,5).” In Hommage à René Braun. 2. Autour de Tertullian. Nice: Association Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines de Nice, 1990: 153–160. Reprint, Lex Orandi-Lex Credendi: Gesammelte Aufsätze zum 60. Geburtstag. Paradosis 36. Freiburg: Universitätsverlag Freiburg Schweiz, 1993: 475–484.Google Scholar
Rousseau, Adelin, and Doutreleau, Louis, eds. and trans. Irénée de Lyon, Contre les hérésies Livre I, Édition Critique. Sources chrétiennes 264. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1979.Google Scholar
Rühle, O. “Hagiographie.” In Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, edited by Werbeck, Wilfried. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1986: 3: 26–28.Google Scholar
Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Das sethianische System nach den Nag-Hammadi-Handschriften.” In Studia Coptica, edited by Nagel, Peter. Berliner byzantinistische Arbeiten 45. Berlin: Akademie, 1974: 165–172. Reprint, Der Same Seths. Hans-Martin Schenkes Kleine Schriften zu Gnosis, Koptologie und Neuem Testament, edited by G. Schenke-Robinson and U.-K. Plüsch. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 78. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2012: 285–292.Google Scholar
Schenke, Hans-Martin. “The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism.” In The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Proceedings at the Conference at Yale, March 1978, II Sethian Gnosticism, edited by Layton, Bentley. Leiden: Brill, 1980: 588–616.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Carl, ed. and trans. Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger koptischen Papyrushandschrift. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1904.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Carl, Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger koptischen Papyrushandschrift Nr. 1: Tafelband. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, Carl, Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger koptischen Papyrushandschrift: Zusätze zur ersten Ausgabe. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1905.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Carl, and Schubart, Wilhelm, eds. and trans. PRAXEIS PAULOU: Acta Pauli nach dem Papyrus der Hamburger Staats und Universitäts-Bibliothek. Veröffentlichungen aus der Hamburger Staats- und Universitäts-Bibliothek 2. Glückstadt; Hamburg: J. J. Augustin, 1936.Google Scholar
Schröter, Jens. “The Figure of Seth in Jewish and Early Christian Writings: Was there a ‘Sethian Gnosticism?’” In The Other Side: Apocryphal Perspectives on Ancient Christian “Orthodoxies,” edited by Nicklas, Tobias, Moss, Candida R., Tuckett, Christopher, and Verheyden, Joseph. Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus/Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments 117. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017: 135–148.Google Scholar
Scopello, Madeleine, ed. The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 62. Leiden: Brill, 2008.Google Scholar
Talbot, Alice-Mary. “Hagiography.” In The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, edited by Jeffreys, Elizabeth with Haldon, John and Cormack, Robin. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008: 862–871.Google Scholar
Testuz, M. Papyrus Bodmer X–XI. X: Correspondance apocryphe des Corinthiens et de l’apôtre Paul. XI: Onzième Ode Salomon. XII: Fragment d’un Hymne liturgique. Cologne; Geneva: Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, 1959.Google Scholar
Thomassen, Einar. “Is Judas Really the Hero of the Gospel of Judas?” In The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas, edited by Scopello, Madeleine. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 62. Leiden: Brill, 2008: 155–170.Google Scholar
Trompf, Garry W. “The Epistle of Jude, Irenaeus, and the Gospel of Judas.” Biblica 91, no. 4 (2010): 555–582.Google Scholar
Thurston, Herbert. “Saints and Martyrs (Christian).” In Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by Hastings, James. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920: 11: 51–59.Google Scholar
Turner, John D. “The Place of the Gospel of Judas in Sethian Tradition.” In The Gospel of Judas in Context: Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Gospel of Judas, edited by Scopello, Madeleine. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 62. Leiden: Brill, 2008: 187–237.Google Scholar
Unger, Dominic J., trans. with revisions by Dillon, John J.. St. Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies. Ancient Christian Writers 55. New York: Newman, 1992.Google Scholar
Wyrwa, Dietmar. “Hagiography.” In Brill’s New Pauly-Antiquity, Vol. 5, edited by Schneider, Helmuth and Cancik, Hubert. Leiden: Brill, 2004: 1095–1096.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×