The Ideal Feminine: Gender, Regendering, and Competition in the Acts of Thecla and the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena

Abstract: This article offers a close literary and feminist reading of the Acts of Thecla ( A. Thecl. ) and the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena ( A. Xanthipp. ). Although the former is ubiquitous among Christian apocrypha and feminist studies, the latter has received relatively little scholarly attention despite the fact that both stories share interest in ascetic practices and conflict with patriarchal institutions, albeit in strikingly different ways. By focusing on the views expressed and actions taken with regard to ascetic practices by the female protagonists, I argue that A. Xanthipp. can be read as a response to A. Thecl . and as evidence of the regendering of women's ascetic renunciation, but also as an indication of competing ideas and intra-Christian disputes over marriage, ascetic practices, and the role of women in late antiquity.