Intelligence moved by love: Thecla as philosopher with Dawn LaValle Norman (S3:E4)
“Thecla shows us how women could be important models, not only insofar as they overcame their femininity, but in their femininity, as models for men and women.”
Welcome to In Search Of, a podcast where we go in search of voices and perspectives that inform and expand a life of faith. This week, we hear the story of Thecla, an early Christian philosopher. Dawn LaValle Norman tells us about Thecla’s adventures–including carnivorous seals, and an all-female symposium–and the world of women philosophers in the first few centuries. Find out how Thecla flipped philosophy on its head on this episode of In Search Of. A transcript of this episode can be found here.
For further searching, check out these links:
- Visit Dawn’s website
- Get Dawn’s book Early Christian Women
- Check out Dawn’s first book The Aesthetics of Hope in Late Greek Imperial Literature: Methodius of Olympus’ Symposium and the Crisis of the Third Century
- Kate Cooper writes about Thecla in Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women
And don’t miss this related content from the Christian Century:
- “The women of midcentury moral philosophy” by Amy Frykholm (June 2023)
- “Who is the mother of Israel?” by Malka Z. Simkovich (August 2022)
- “Encountering the sacred Black feminine” Cassidy Hall interviews Christena Cleveland (July 2022)
- “Four new books about the women of Hebrew scripture” by NaShieka Knight (May 2022)
- “I’m a philosopher. We can’t think our way out of this mess” by James K.A. Smith (March 2021)
Is there something that you are in search of? Email us.
