The Girl Who Baptized Herself: How a Lost Scripture About a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth

In this dynamic treatise, theologian Watterson (Mary Magdalene Revealed) excavates the egalitarian roots of Christianity via the life of a largely forgotten saint. In the fourth century, the emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, and the council of Nicaea ordered the destruction of the Gospel of Mary, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and other texts that cut against notions of “an exclusively male succession of divine authority.” Drawing on these scriptures, which were saved by monks and rediscovered between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, Watterson recounts the story of Thecla, who lived in the first century, refused marriage to follow the apostle Paul, dedicated her life to spreading Christ’s teachings, and baptized herself in a moment of crisis—an act that illustrated a profound self-belief rooted in God’s love. According to Watterson, Thecla’s story reflects a Christianity that existed before the fourth century less as a religion than “an ancient version of an equal rights movement.” Though some of the book’s scriptural lessons veer off-topic, Watterson perceptively analyzes the links between power, authority, and embodied faith (she contends that Christian spirituality has often ignored the “sweaty, messy, bloody reality of the... human body”). The result is a vibrant and creative reframing of traditional Christian power paradigms. (July)