15043. THE ROLE AND STATUS OF WOMEN IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY. The evidence of Paul's letters indicates that women at first had equal status in the church, similar to what they had in the Greco-Roman cults. However, this status declined by the time of the "deutero-Pauline" letters and the apocryphal text "Acts of Paul and Thecla." 6 pages, 16 footnotes, 5 bibliographic references.