An early woman bishop? Diane Cummings and John Rigoli’s The Mystery of Julia Episcopa
How much of the story of Julia Episcopa is based on real history? How did you research this?
John: Based on archeological discoveries and the works of historical scholars, it is widely accepted that women held leadership positions in the early Church. We have evidence of female ordination throughout the Roman Empire from tombstones, frescoes, mosaics, and manuscripts.
Reference: Women Officeholders in Early Christianity by Ute Eisen and Dorothy Irvin.
In the letters of Paul dated to the middle of the first century CE: He greets Prisca, Junia, Julia, and Nereus’ sister, who worked and traveled as missionaries in pairs with their husbands or brothers. He tells us that Prisca and her husband risked their lives to save his. He praises Junia as a prominent apostle, clear evidence of women apostles active in spreading the Christian message. Paul’s letters refer to house churches where women led the meetings, teaching Jesus’s message.
Reference: Karen L. King Professor of New Testament Studies and the History of Ancient Christianity at Harvard University in the Divinity School.
Though the subject is still controversial, many scholars believe that Paul’s contradictory instructions that women ‘are to remain silent’ was a much later addition to 1st Corinthians, an addition added by a scribe in the 4th century.
I traveled to Italy and Israel several times, have researched the stories of the Roman Empire and early Christian history over 30 years. They call me an archaeology sleuth.
Diane: Julia is a fictional character based loosely on the biblical character Junia. That Paul considered Junia an apostle is where the similarity to Julia begins and ends, though Junia’s life might have played out exactly as we constructed Julia’s. We placed our protagonist in historically accurate settings and gave her life as it was lived then. We sent our publicist, who lives in Florence, Italy, to Herculaneum so that we could accurately construct her life there.
A previous title more explicitly stated the women’s history and struggle aspect of this book. Why did you decide to change it to the more enigmatic title it has now?
John: We did not want to confuse readers from ordering the earlier version and felt that the word mystery might rouse readers’ curiosity.
Diane: “A Woman’s Struggle…”didn’t gain much interest when we published it. John and I realized that we could add to the story and improve it. We changed it so much that “Struggle…” diminished in comparison to “Mystery…” We tried to retire the first book so as not to confuse readers with two books of the same name, but as you know, once online, it’s there forever. Therefore, we changed the title.
What was a woman’s life, and a woman’s role, like in Roman Empire times? How (or did) Christianity affect society’s view of women?
John: Women were considered full citizens under Roman law, though they could not vote or stand for office and had no formal role in public life outside of certain religious offices, such as the Vestals. However, many wives, widows, or close relatives of prominent men often wielded great political influence behind the scenes. In public, women were expected to play their traditional role in the household. They were responsible for making clothes, running the household. They were expected to be the dignified wife and good mother and not break from this tradition.
Diane: We’re speaking of the upper classes now. Children were adored in Roman households, especially the girls. They were educated and many could speak several languages by the time they were of marriageable age, at around 14-16. As they reached the age to marry, they could depend on their fathers to find them a suitable husband. Adoring fathers wanted their daughters happily settled in marriage, but at the same time, the match must be financially advantageous to both families. Daughters never decided whom they would marry. Love did not enter into it.
When a girl married, her relationship to her father remained unchanged, and she was legally still a member of her father’s family, with equal inheritance rights to her brothers. This led to a relative level of independence under Roman law, in comparison to other cultures of this age. She will have been trained by her mother in all aspects of running a household. Supervising slaves/servants, organizing and hosting lavish parties, maintaining her family’s status would be done with ease. If she were savvy enough, politically astute, she could speak her mind to her husband, guiding and advancing his career.
In the earliest days of Yeshua’s preaching, the Romans largely paid little attention to the religious lives of their Israeli lands provided Rome received the taxes they were due. The diaspora Jewish communities throughout the Roman Empire were allowed to practice their religion relatively freely.
Rome viewed the earliest Christian communities as simply another Jewish cult, and did not differentiate them legally from any other group of Jewish settlers. Though there were some persecutions under Emperor Nero, there was little legal difference under Roman law until the Jewish Rebellion in the latter half of the first century, at which point, the Christian movement sought to distance themselves from the Jewish communities.
While we do not know precisely when the role of women in the early church started to be curtailed, we do know that women were a dominant force in the early church. We also know that when the fledgling movement was moved to distance itself from Jewish communities in the Empire, the Jews began to be less separatist and conform more closely to mores of the larger Roman society. They wished to blend in in order to avoid the persecution that they were subjected to after the rebellion in Jerusalem and the fall of the Temple in 70 CE.
How did Julia’s social standing impact her life as a woman? How would the story have been different if she had not been noble, if she’d been, say, a farmer’s daughter?
John: Because of her formal education and family status and wealth, Julia was able to sponsor and provide early Christian meetings at her home and recruit other wealthy and high-ranking Romans.
Diane: As a Roman noblewoman, Julia had the best of everything: a fine education, a beautiful home, all the clothes and jewelry one could imagine and a husband who, even if he did not love her, respected and honored her. Julia organized the household, raised children, and mixed with other women of her station, for her a tedious pursuit. Her husband ruled, and what she wanted was subject to his approval. She came to know that what she lacked in her life was personal freedom.
It would have been difficult for Julia to imagine the life of a farmer’s daughter. Class differences were an unquestioned fact. However, she had the opportunity to travel, to mix with people of many different stations. Her eyes opened, and she developed empathy for the many who suffered. During her lifetime, though, she never quite shed the image of herself as the sophisticated noblewoman, which made her the force she was.
What reactions has this book gotten from religious people? Nonreligious people?
John: Based on the majority of Amazon reviews, most readers have embraced this book - both religious and non-religious. We have presented a plausible story that challenges the status quo, and so far, most people have really loved it.
Diane: We were worried, of course. A couple of readers have accused us of “heresy,” but I have to say, our Facebook page is full of lively discussion. Men seem more troubled by the notion of a woman bishop than women do.
What was your process like working with a coauthor? How did you two collaborate?
John: We communicate by email and phone as I live in San Francisco and Diane lives in Atlanta. The process works for us because of our different contributions to the writing. My historical research and Diane’s writing expertise.
Diane: Once we decided to work together, our division of labor was obvious. John would be responsible for research and putting into context what he found, and mine would be writing the book. We did no outline. We had a general idea about where to start and no idea where it would end. We made it up as we went along by spending hours on the phone creating scenes and characters. One of John’s creations was Giuseppe. He wanted to add a character with slight limitations—and this idea came well into writing the first draft. I really liked this character after we rounded him out, but we had no idea what to do with him. We talked and talked creating scene after scene, and just when we thought to scrap him, one of us said, “Got it.” And Giuseppe became our caretaker.