community in its adjustment.222 An alternative proposal sees the Pastorals in terms of a conservative reaction within Pauline Christianity. In this view, Paul is being championed by groups that the author perceives as dangerous, and the Pastorals are written in order to advance a more conservative form of the Pauline tradition. One version considers Paul to be the hero of ascetic Christians who celebrate the active and itinerant missionary activity of women, the way Thecla is associated with Paul
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