Charismatic Revolutionaries in Early Christianity:
The Case of The Acts of Thecla

THESIS:

There are significant theological differences between the letters of Paul and the documents of the later Pauline traditions---on the understanding, inter alia, of salvation, resurrection, faith, the church, roles of women and men, and the eschaton.

QUERIES

  1. What are the similarities and differences you find among the views on these four topics?
  2. What are the relationships and patterns you see among the views on these four topics?
  3. What do you see as the significance of these patterns?
  4. What kind of similarities and differences do you see when comparing these trends with the changes in the understanding/portrayal of Jesus from the earliest gospel to the last?
  5. How ought we to evaluate the shifts in teaching from Paul to the Paulinists?
  6. How ought we to evaluate the shifts in teaching from Jesus to the Evangelists?
  7. What do these changes tell us about the history of early Christianity?
  8. What criteria should be used to determine future doctrine? How do we decide which doctrinal models to follow?