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Out of the Shadows

The Acts of Paul and Thecla (new translation and commentary)

Product Description

August 22, 2024

$ 16.00 USD

This collection of essays by Robert Funk delves into the contributions of notable artists and intellectuals, including Kafka, Beckett, Henry Miller, Castaneda, Fowles, and Thoreau, to illuminate the true successors of Jesus. In the section titled 'Voices of Silence,' Funk examines the interplay between language and contemporary reality. He ultimately addresses the pivotal theological question of whether individuals can identify a genuine world to which they can fully commit, offering twenty-one propositions on theology in response.

Thecla is one of the strangest characters from Christianity's past. She falls in love with the apostle Paul's teaching on continence, twice faces martyrdom, fights with beasts in the arena, cuts her hair, cross-dresses, baptizes herself, and becomes a preacher. Tertullian tried to silence her story and the Pastoral Epistles warned about women like her. The Acts of Paul and Thecla was widespread and popular but then was hidden away in the Apocrypha. In recent years, Thecla has come out of the shadows. Her story reframes conventional views of second-century Jesus communities. Out of the Shadows offers a vibrant and accessible modern translation and commentary.