© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���4 | doi �0.��63/�57007 �0- � �34� �06 vigiliae christianae 68 (�0 �4) 55�-563 brill.com/vc Vigiliae Christianae St. Thecla: Remembering Paul and Being Remembered Through Paul Peter-Ben Smit VU University Amsterdam, Utrecht University, University of Pretoria Abstract This paper interprets the Acts of Thecla, as they are part of the non-canonical Acts of Paul (and Thecla) as a piece of literature that seeks to make the Pauline heritage mean- ingful in a new context and a for a new kind of audience, specifically through a renewed accentuation of his apostleship and his teaching on self-control. By remembering Paul as Thecla’s mentor and subsequent colleague in the apostolic ministry, the Acts of Thecla make the Pauline ministry relevant and accessible for those whose unmascu- line bodies would not otherwise have presented them as plausible, or even viable candidates for this “job.” The papers uses the notion of cultural memory to achieve its aim. * This paper has benefitted from discussions at the University of Riga, during an Erasmus exchange 23-25 May 2013, and at the EABS meeting in Leipzig, 30 July-2 August 2013. I am grateful to Dr. Dace Balode for the opportunity to teach a seminar on early Christian mascu- linities at the University of Riga. It also relies on insights first developed in: Peter-Ben Smit, ‘Theologie nach dem “Cultural Turn”: Gender Studies am Beispiel der Theklaakten,’ in: Judith Gruber (ed. with Verena Bull), Theologie im Cultural Turn. Erkenntnistheologische Erkündungen in einem veränderten Paradigma Salzburger interdisziplinäre Diskurse 4 (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2013), 105-130, and Peter-Ben Smit, ‘Thecla’s Masculinity in the Acts of (Paul and) Thecla,’ in: idem/Ovidiu Creanga (ed.), Biblical Masculinities Foregrounded (Sheffield: Phoenix, 2014). See these publications for a more extensive treatment of the secondary literature on the Acts of (Paul and) Thecla and for part of the documentation provided here.—The reference to “St.” Thecla in the title intends to underline Thecla’s signifi- cance as a figure of authority in early Christianity.—I am grateful to the reviewer of Vigiliae Christianae for helpful suggestions and references as well as to the University of Pretoria for providing me with a context in which this paper could be finalized.