Once I Received a Stoning

Once I Received a Stoning Commentary by Matthew R. Anderson Bible Passage In the ancient Mediterranean, being a man was not a biological given. Even if they were biologically male, enslaved persons and non-citizens only rarely achieved the coveted title of a Roman vir, the word for man from which ‘virtue’ derives (Williams 2010: 145). The attainment of ‘masculinity’ depended on control over oneself and others (Conway 2019). Everyone strove for ‘manliness’, regardless of gender. Few attained it. This ivory relief, now in the British Museum, comes from Imperial Christian Rome. Paul is shown bearded and balding, a portrayal based on the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla (Soon 2021: 166–69). He appears defenceless against his attacker, who readies a stone to throw with one arm while the other cradles more stones in a tunic fold. Paul’s vulnerability is reinforced by his self-protectively raised hand and by his inferior position in the relief. Such a ‘lesser’ position within the relief helps to enhance the boldness of Paul’s admission, and even boasting, of his ‘sufferings’ in 2 Corinthians 11. In fact, Paul goes as far as to recognize the absurdity of the claims by saying, ‘I am speaking as a fool’ (v.21). Paul’s apparently less-than-impressive physique (Soon 2021: 177) and his lack of agency were well-known and seen as a liability by the Corinthian Christ-followers (Larson 2004: 95; Glancy 2010: 43). In general, suffering and weakness were seen as ‘womanly.’ Given this, it is interesting that the fourth or fifth-century ivory portrayal of Paul’s stoning is paired with a panel depicting Paul’s preaching to Thecla, a popular (if perhaps apocryphal) early Christian woman leader on a level with St Melania (c.350–before 410/c.417) and St Paula (347–404 CE). The artwork decorated an elite Roman casket. Given the acknowledged historical importance of elite Roman women as patrons and guides to Christianity’s shape and spread in the fourth and early fifth centuries, it is not impossible that such a carving, with its depiction of Thecla, decorated the final resting place of one such woman. In 2 Corinthians, however, Paul’s admission is a rhetorical tactic. He compares himself to Christ, whom few of his listeners would accuse of unmanliness despite an ‘emasculating’ crucifixion. If suffering was undertaken on behalf of others, and endured without complaint, one could spin it as manliness. This is why Paul links his vulnerabilities not only to Christ, but also to his noble ‘anxiety for all the churches’ (v.28).