If you picked up this book, as I did, seeking an in depth analysis of the first century saint, Thecla and her subsequent veneration, prepare to be disappointed. The analysis present mostly consists of the author's thoughts and feelings about the Acts of Paul and Thecla, there is no discussion of current or historical commentaries on the work or how opinions on Thecla might have evolved over time. Indeed in reading this, one might get the impression that no one spoke about Thecla, a saint in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches, between the 4th and 21st centuries.

I would not have found this so annoying had it not been for the fact that the parts of the book not about Thecla are a sort of memoir for the author, Meggan Watterson, and I think I don't particularly like her very much. Watterson likes to bring up that she went to Harvard and all of the very important people she runs in the same circles as. She engages in a sort of "I'm not like other girls" behavior about being a Christian theologian, where she repeatedly states unlike other seminarians, she wasn't seeking ordination and didn't belong to any denomination because her beliefs are too radical and feminist. But her beliefs are basically left wing politics, female ordination, and congregationalism, she would fit in easily at most UU or UCC churches or honestly Quaker meetings. She behaves as though she were the only Feminist Theologian, an effect made worse by her reticence to bring up any other commentaries on the Acts of Paul and Thecla.

I found this narrative choice somewhat bizzare until I got to the end of the book, where she plugs joining her church, sorry online community of classes. You see Watterson is a guru and if she mentioned other denominations or theologians, you the reader might choose to seek them out instead of her. It's clear that Watterson's target audience are lapsed and ex-Christians who've never encountered any kind of left wing or feminist Christianity and upon reading the book will decide they want to hear more from her "radical" stance. I think anyone else who reads this book will feel as I did, disappointed and slightly annoyed.

I do have to give her credit where credit is due, I had no idea someone could write a feminist version of Christian Devotional Literature, but Watterson has done just that.