Hey there, weary and wonder-filled fellow traveler,
Lent is upon us, and if you’re like me—someone who’s spent years composting the wild, tangled roots of faith (in my case from Baptist pews to Presbyterian soup kitchens, from Pentecostal altar-calls and contemplative cushions to house church huddles) you’re probably hungry for something fresh to digest. Not just another pious fast, but a feast of ideas that stirs the soul and rattles the cage of our oligarchic empires with the revolutionary reality of Spirit’s surprise, interrupting our confused and convoluted consensus constrictions.
That’s why I’m buzzing about my friends Tripp Fuller and John Dominic Crossan’s new 5-week online class, Paul the Pharisee: Faith & Politics in a Divided World. Their preview lecture on the New Testament apocryphal book The Acts of Paul and Thecla hooked me hard—a story so radical it’s got me rethinking how we build life-rafts when the powers-that-be try to ‘flood the zone,’ then and now. You can watch it here, and trust me: it’s a flavor worth savoring.
Picture Thecla: a teenage girl perched at her window in Iconium, ears perked as Paul preaches celibacy. Not as some dour rule, but a Molotov cocktail lobbed at Rome’s patriarchal machine—a refusal to be passed from father to husband like chattel.
Dr. Crossan paints her vividly: she hears Paul’s Life-Vision of Jesus, that Galatians 3:28 riff of “no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female,” and she’s all-in. Others aren’t so thrilled: Her fiancé yanks her away, the empire tries to burn her, beasts snarl in the arena—but nevertheless, Thecla persists. When Paul hesitates to baptize her (doubting her grit, which, ouch), she dives into a vat of deadly critters and baptizes herself.
God approves with a cosmic wink—hail douses flames, lionesses shield her from lions. Tripp calls her a “teenager staring down an empire”; Dom says she embodies a “critical acceptance of Paul,” separating the “gold, silver, and precious stones” of his liberatory message and ditching the “wood, hay, and straw” of his waffling. Watch them unpack it here—it’s electric. Then sign up for the entire class to get access to all the lectures and five Q&A livestreams during Lent.
What grabs me most? Thecla’s not just a footnote; she’s a flare illuminating Paul’s radical edge—one that portions of the New Testament (arguably) try to dim. Crossan makes the compelling case that Paul scared the daylights out of early Christians, his “no longer slave or free” threatening Rome’s slave economy, his gender equality upending Aristotle’s old hierarchies. So they petrified (or “Peter-fied”) him—composing letters in his name like Timothy to hush women, inserting status-quo snuffers to tame his fire.
But Thecla? She’s not buying the sanitized version. She runs with Paul’s (and of course Jesus’) radical vision, teaching and baptizing, her gatherings splitting crowds by gender—women tossing perfume to confuse the beasts! It’s sociopolitical dynamite, not just theology, echoing into our own age of autocracy and division.
Check out this Week 1 discussion here—it’s a wake-up call for all of us wrestling with empire’s grip in our own abysmal situation. I invite you to sign up for the entire class to get access to all the lectures and five Q&A livestreams during Lent.
This conversation hits home for me. I’ve long circled questions like:
- How do we sift life-giving wisdom from empire-preserving control in our traditions?
- How do we embody a faith that liberates rather than leashes?
Thecla’s story—whether she’s a legend-wrapped rebel or a blazing archetype—feels like a mirror. She’s a teenage visionary who saw through Rome’s blindness, claiming her divine dignity against all odds. It’s the kind of courage I crave in my own journey—resisting not just external powers but the automatic ways I’ve been conditioned to bow to them. Maybe you feel that ache too, that hunger to stand tall in a world that often demands we shrink.
That’s why I’m inviting you to join this Lenten journey with Tripp and Dom. Five visual lectures (watchable anytime), five livestream Q&As (replays included), and a discussion group—all asynchronous, so you can feast at your own pace. It’s pay-what-you-can—even $0—because they want everyone at the table.
I’ve raved about this class in my email newsletter before (hope you entered the book giveaway!), but this preview sealed it. Perfect for solo contemplation or your small group—imagine the sparks! Register here to dive into Paul’s world, from Thecla’s holy rebellion to her clash with Rome’s “violent normalcy.”
Still curious? Reply to any class email with your questions about Thecla’s bad@$$ery—Tripp and Dom will tackle them live. This isn’t just about Paul; it’s about us—how we resist, how we see, how we live out a faith that doesn’t just nod at justice but dances with it.
Thecla didn’t blind herself to empire’s lies; she saw through them. Let’s follow her lead this Lent, together.
Related posts:
The Beginning of the World as We Know It: Civilization, Empire, & the Counter-Cult of Jesus with John Dominic Crossan
Changing the World with Faith, Hope & Love: Ecology, Identity, Class & Solidarity in the Way of Jesus with Joerg Rieger!
Dangerous Meals – Galatians for Lent
Devoured or Digested: What’s Eating You this Lent?
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