Travelling Thomas: Slave Trade and Missionary Travel in the Acts of Thomas

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a very interesting angle on an interesting document. The essay has a lot of potential. It's informative as it is. It deals adeptly with questions of historicity and is able to show how the Acts of Thomas can nevertheless be illuminating in several ways. The essay brings out multiple valuable aspects of intersectionality and helpfully brings out the context at that time for issues of slavery, apostleship, missions, sexuality, and the role of women. 

As it is, however, it's a little brief and leaves hanging some issues that I think most readers would want to see addressed more fully. The writer notes with little commentary the strange picture of Jesus deceiving his disciple and selling him into slavery. This doesn't fit the Gospel portrait. Could this be addressed? what does it say about the understanding of providence at the time? Why is this picture of Jesus fitting in the third century? 

 

Another issue is the treatment of the fellow Hebrew slave flute-girl. The writer contrasts in much detail Thomas with this girl, usually disparagingly and with little sensitivity to the girl's situation (apart from one hint at the end). This negative treatment may well reflect the document and the time, but it cries out for some contemporary hermeneutical commentary, for Thomas' treatment of the girl seems in sharp contrast to Jesus and also to Paul's sensitivity to his ethnic relationships to other Hebrews. Why the change by the time of this document? The writer leaves with little explanation comments about the superior strength of the man compared to the weakness of women, Thomas's disinterest in the fact that she was also a Hebrew slave, and that Thomas was interested in upper-class rich women but not a poor slave. The writer deals with great sensitivity the tension of Thomas's being a slave and an apostle yet not the plight of the slave girl. There could be much theological reflection here on the contrast of the Gospels and Paul with this Gospel by the third century or so without even dominating the discussion by contemporary mores. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are several issues of commas and style infelicities.

Author Response

These comments were really helpful, and I have taken them all into account.

 

• Response to comment: “The writer notes with little commentary the strange picture of Jesus deceiving his disciple and selling him into slavery. This doesn't fit the Gospel portrait. Could this be addressed? what does it say about the understanding of providence at the time? Why is this picture of Jesus fitting in the third century?”

Changes made: At the end of 4.1, I have added a paragraph taking these concerns into account. I also added a few references and bible texts with relevance.

• Response to comment: “Another issue is the treatment of the fellow Hebrew slave flute-girl. The writer contrasts in much detail Thomas with this girl, usually disparagingly and with little sensitivity to the girl's situation (apart from one hint at the end). This negative treatment may well reflect the document and the time, but it cries out for some contemporary hermeneutical commentary, for Thomas' treatment of the girl seems in sharp contrast to Jesus and also to Paul's sensitivity to his ethnic relationships to other Hebrews. Why the change by the time of this document? The writer leaves with little explanation comments about the superior strength of the man compared to the weakness of women, Thomas's disinterest in the fact that she was also a Hebrew slave, and that Thomas was interested in upper-class rich women but not a poor slave. The writer deals with great sensitivity the tension of Thomas's being a slave and an apostle yet not the plight of the slave girl. There could be much theological reflection here on the contrast of the Gospels and Paul with this Gospel by the third century or so without even dominating the discussion by contemporary mores.”

Changes made: To this point I have added a section under 4.4, added some secondary literature and discussed these matters when relevant in the rest of the article.

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please see attached document

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Please see attached document

Author Response

Comments to review

These comments were really helpful and I have taken them all into account. Below I will describe in detail how and where:

1. As the author recognizes, mobility is a very common topos in ancient narrative, especially, but not limited to, the ancient novel which is the backdrop to the Apocryphal Acts. How the identities and statuses of protagonists shift and interact through travel is thus a major part of the analysis of many ancient narratives and myths – from the ANE, Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic. Relevant scholarship however is little discussed. Is the AoT unique or special in how it shapes these concerns? In what (if at all) does it deviate from the topos? This is unclear from the paper.

Changes: I have added a few sentences in the intro and in the conclusion. Also, I have consulted several of the titles at the suggested list of references, and added them when relevant. I also added footnotes with these references.

2. In general, the narrative aspect is not examined. Though the author reminds us that this is a fictional narrative, not history (p. 3), it is not very clear how this informs the discussion.

Change: I have clarified this, in particular with a sentence at p.6

3. The author examines 5 scenes: 1. Selling; 2. Travelling as a slave; 3. A party of slaves; 4. The flute girl; 5. The travelling bones. The main issue in most of them is the lower status of the travelling slave relative to the free person and the subversion of this by the apostle. I am not sure however that we need intersectionality for this and the discussion in each is short and sparse. The subversion of sexual expectations in 4 is obvious and repeated far too many times in the article. I think that if the length of the article is supposed to be what it is, it may be better for the author to focus on one, at most two, scenes, and to show more in depth how travel, identity, and status interact here, with reference to similar narratives which would have informed writers, readers and listeners in this period.

Changes: I have taken this into account and downplayed the repetition in 4.4. I have tried to highlight intersectionality more in the various sections, and what we can benefit from it. I have been reflecting about the suggestion of reducing the five cases to fewer, but concluded that I will treat them all but make it more clear that they are case studies and do not give a full overview. I have also included some new literature from the suggested list, to make my point clearer.

 

4. slavery: I think more intersectionality is needed here. The slave is not simply a slave but a skilled, foreign, craftsman, who is expected to build a palace. Slavery was a very complex status, but the discussion here does not reflect this. Indeed, the fact that the merchant is searching for a slave from so far away itself testified to his potential high status as a skilled craftsman.

Changes: This is an important point and I have added a discussion on slavery, in the section on intersectionality and also in the conclusion. I also added some secondary literature.

 

5. Since most the actual discussion is on the slave status of Thomas in AoT, and there is quite a bit of scholarship on this, it has to be made clearer what part of the discussion is new and what is owed to previous scholarship. In general, the main question that has to be addressed is: what does the innovative methodological perspective (intersectionality/travel) add to our understanding that we did not know before?

Changes: I have made my perspective and what is new more explicit and clearer, in the introduction and the conclusion. I have tried to profile my findings better.

 

Some minor points:

1. it is not at all clear to me that Thomas is not aware of the actual context of being sold after Jesus calls him. To me it is more likely that Jesus' has demonstrated to him through his actions and the double meaning of slavery that he is not really free., i.e., Jesus has "brought home" the slave metaphor and Thomas learnt this lesson, therefore his silent shows his real agreement not his being fooled. I agree both options are possible but more argument is needed here.

Changes: In the part on fooled and selling I have discussed this point

 

2. "Probably like most slaves he meets his new master without carrying anything with him." I doubt this is true. Skilled slaves were not expected to be lacking in all property – in fact they were commonly expected to bring their tools of trade - and there were various workarounds to the legal issues.

Changes: I have taken this into account and added a sentence at the end of Section 4.

 

6. The author may want to work more on intertextuality and travel here. For example to me the biblical Joseph story has many echoes.

Changes: I have added a refences to relevant intertextual refences in the beginning of Section 4, and mentioned the story about Joseph in particular.

 

7. 6-7: there is no hint in the text that the reason Thomas sat elsewhere from the master was his being a slave. It is only said that he was looked on "as a foreigner". This is of course possible but cannot be stated without argument.

Changes: I have mentioned this option and profiled my suggestion better, also by help of secondary literature

 

8.  

The English requires editing, and there are many simple grammatical mistakes.

Changes: All the mentioned mistakes are corrected.

 

Additional bibliography

Changes: This list was very helpful. I have consulted all of them and used in particular Rose, Reger and Perkins in my article.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear author and editors, 

The revision has improved the article. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English is still problematic at certain points - I recommend thorough editing for language. 

 

Author Response

I have completed the task: "Moderate editing of English language required"