{"product_id":"the-girl-who-baptized-herself-by-meggan-watterson-9780593595008","title":"The Girl Who Baptized Herself","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis riveting exploration of a nearly lost first-century scripture tells the story of a courageous saint named Thecla and offers us a roadmap to knowing our worth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMeggan Watterson writes with a prophet's vision and a mystic's heart.\u003c\/em\u003e - Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO, Thrive Global\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA teenage girl named Thecla is sitting at her bedroom window listening to a man share stories nearby. Her mother and fiancé order her to stop. But Thecla, trapped in a world that expects her to marry and have children, refuses. This man, Paul, is talking about a world she wants to believe in: an inner world of freedom to define her own life. And he's talking about a kind of love she hasn't known before—a love that asks her to be true to who she is within.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor Meggan Watterson, a Harvard-trained feminist theologian, Thecla's story in \u003cem\u003eThe Acts of Paul and Thecla\u003c\/em\u003e has everything to do with power. Thecla's refusal to be controlled, as well as the authority she reclaims by baptising herself, reads like a lost gospel for finding our own source of power within—a power that allows us to know who we are and to make choices based on that knowing. This hidden scripture suggests that Christianity before the fourth century was about defying the patriarchy, not deifying it. But early church fathers excluded \u003cem\u003eThe Acts of Paul and Thecla\u003c\/em\u003e, along with other sacred texts such as \u003cem\u003eThe Gospel of Mary\u003c\/em\u003e, from the New Testament.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWatterson synthesises scripture, memoir, and politics to illuminate a story that has been left out of the canon for far too long, one that follows a girl freeing herself from a life predicated on the expectations of others—a path that made her feel unworthy. Thecla's story offers us a path to take back the power we often give to others and live based on the truth of who we are.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48126633836780,"sku":"9780593595008","price":80.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780593595008-the-girl-who-baptized-herself.jpg?v=1785972785","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-girl-who-baptized-herself-by-meggan-watterson-9780593595008","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}