Thecla's Devotion: Narrative, Emotion and Identity in the Acts of Paul and Thecla

There are some episodes in the Apocryphal Acts that are reminiscent of contemporary pagan stories of travel and adventure. One of these is the Thecla episode (ATh), from the Acts of Paul. As a story of Christian life, it aims to answer to relevant spiritual questions, such as the nature of Christian belief and the meaning itself of being Christian. In doing so, the Thecla episode follows a path sprinkled with topoi from ancient pagan fiction, with its challenging attitude towards the concept of the possibility of conquering the passions through reason and, in Thecla’s case, the ultimate power of faith.  In Thecla’s Devotion, J.D. McLarty explores the Thecla episode through its intimate connection with paradigms of pagan romance, and walking amidst echoes of narrative sounds and patterns that link plots and fictional effects. In this fascinating book, the role of emotion arises alongside a powerful female leading figure as main features of both kindS of text – ATh and pagan romance – and is deeply investigated with a thorough and gentle touch.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Chapter 1 Contexts Part 1: PlotChapter 2 Reading the Plot Chapter 3 The Reader’s Journey Chapter 4 Time Chapter 5 Space and Place Part 1 Conclusions: the affective force of the plot Part 2: Character Chapter 6 Emotion and Characterisation Chapter 7 Characterisation in Callirhoe Chapter 8 Characterisation in the Acts of Thecla Part 2 Conclusions: the characterisation of the Acts of Thecla read against CallirhoeChapter 9 Emotion and Identity in the Acts of Thecla Appendix 1: The Plot of Callirhoe Abbreviations, Bibliography Read more