In the book of Acts chapter sixteen the author introduces the reader to Lydia, a purple dying, God-fearing woman of a household. Lydia is the first person Paul talks with, baptizes and converts in Europe. However, before one claims this a triumph for women liberation and leadership in the early church, one must dissect the details of this narrative. Furthermore, reading two verses further exposes a complete reversal of Paul’s treatment of women. This essay explores the details of Lydia and her interactions with Paul. Following, it highlights the facts regarding the slave-girl who annoys Paul in Acts 16:16-18. Synthesizing these two interactions will show that the role of women in Acts works in tangent with the ancient Roman ideals regarding females in the public sphere. However one treats …show more content…
However, Paul could not find a synagogue, potentially because there was not a group of ten Jewish males necessary to form a synagogue, thus he moved outside the city(16:12-13). It is here, by the river where Paul supposes there is a place of prayer, that the author introduces Lydia, a God Fearer. There is much speculation regarding this term, “God fearer,” as it relates to other uses in Acts. Nevertheless, this essay will assume it denotes that Lydia was a Gentile sympathizer with the Jewish faith. Furthermore, as Dennis MacDonlad points out in his essay Lydia and Her Sisters as Lukan Fictions, this place of prayer outside the city is not a male dominated synagogue, but rather a space dominated by women worshipping their God in their way. Suggesting that Paul, after failing to fine Jewish males inside the city, enters a location where women’s voices and stories are being told in worship freed from the dictates of male-dominated society. Next it’s discovered that Lydia is from Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. (16:14) Thus, Lydia has moved from her place of birth and is an active participant in dealing purple