Università Roma Tre

Course title (2016-2017): “Paul and Thecla: the first Christian novel”.
Adventures of the Apostle Paul and his disciple Thecla in Asia Minor are the subject of the most famous section of the Acts of Paul, section which, autonomously, enjoyed wide circulation. The two protagonists of the typical Hellenistic novel become here two tireless evangelists, and the love affair turns into a persistent desire of Paul imitation by Thecla, which undermines all social conventions and comes to shape one of the great literary heroines of antiquity.
The course aims to analyze the Acts of Paul and Thecla from historico-critical, semantic, ideological and literary perspectives, making use of the most recent scientific literature on the subject.
The course is a workshop and provides for the active participation of the students; the knowledge of the Greek language is demanded. Students who don’t know Greek or cannot attend the lessons are requested to contact the teacher.

Materials for the seminars (critical editions, scientific literature) will be furnished by the teacher.