Concerning the Perpetua-Text: It represents a new genre in Classical writing, a Passio. A Passio is a Christian narrative with the death, or "passing" of the main characters as the theme. The genre shows worldly passions -- hatred, greed, blood-lust, power -- in stark opposition to spiritual passions of love, joy, peace, generosity, tolerance and service/ministry to others. What puts this opposition of spirit vs world into the strongest contrast is the worldly persecution and murder of the innocent spiritual characters, often with an unusually dramatic dying-scene. The Passio-Genre tended to (over?)emphasize these differences between spirit and world so that readers could keep this dichotomy in mind, front and center.

      But be aware: this introduction exists to alert you to a strange, violent and to some, objectionable, narrative!

      The Passio of Perpetua was very influential in the Late Classical Period and through the Middle Ages, but fell off in popularity during the Enlightenment and Early Modern Period because of scholarly skepticism about this document. Scholars at that time rejected the authenticity of Perpetua's Passio because 1.) a woman was writing; 2.) she wrote in the first person; 3.) she wrote as the leader of a band of Christians, even though she was a woman and a new convert. Well! Scholarship in years past just could not admit that a young, literate woman could think, lead, be courageous, or even exist! (These are roughly the same people who told Columbus he would fall off the edge.)

      So for a couple centuries, the Passio of Perpetua fell out of popularity, somewhat. But, in the early 20th century, a building project in North Africa turned up her tombstone. It was genuine in terms of date, style, and right where it should have been, in her home town. The clincher was that the stone had the names of her whole band of Christians. Now the Passio of Perpetua is not only seen as authentic, but often cited as a piece of evidence for the rising status of women in the Roman Empire!

      Some useful questions-themes to keep in mind and squeeze the text concerning:

1. Gender: generally, as well as in terms of power, authority
2. Hierarchy: who seems where?
3. Point of each part, paragraph, that you see
4. Politics? Law? Society?
5. Prophetic experiences?
6. Individualism? Personal? Family-Values
7. Likely or certain Influences of above ideas on later generations?
8. Virtues that the text presents as virtues; Counter the usual or expected? (Especially the death-scenes/dialogues of each one)

         It was an ancient Christian saying voiced by Tertullian: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Both the narrative and personal example of Vibia Perpetua, a young Roman woman, attained this result. She was executed in the arena at Carthage in 203. Perpetua herself wrote sections 3-10 while in prison and shortly before her death. In the Roman prison, for her the most fearful setting of present and future hatred, her love and joy shine through the text, even in the older translation (linked below). Peace? in the face of violent death she actually had other things on her mind! Her kindness to the rough jailer, even to the executioner and the jeering crowd, relied on a power higher than ours. Human kindness alone does not suffice to explain. And so, the blood of the martyrs prodded people to reconsider much over the course of ages.

      Some questions: Does this group in prison form a definable sub-subculture? How do they go about 'countering' the culture that is about to make them pay the ultimate price? Look carefully -- some of this is subtle, for all the high drama involved.