The Girl Who Baptized Herself

How a Lost Scripture About a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth

“Meggan Watterson writes with a prophet’s vision and a mystic’s heart.”
—Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO, Thrive Global

This riveting exploration of a nearly lost first-century scripture tells the story of a courageous saint named Thecla and offers us a roadmap to knowing our worth.

Know Your Worth

A teenage girl named Thecla is sitting at her bedroom window listening to a man share stories nearby. Her mother and fiancé order her to stop. But Thecla, trapped in a world that expects her to marry and have children, refuses. This man, Paul, is talking about a world she wants to believe in: an inner world of freedom to define her own life. And he’s talking about a kind of love she hasn’t known before—a love that asks her to be true to who she is within.

For Watterson, a Harvard-trained feminist theologian, Thecla’s story in The Acts of Paul and Thecla has everything to do with power. Thecla’s refusal to be controlled, as well as the authority she reclaims by baptizing herself, reads like a lost gospel for finding our own source of power within. A power that allows us to know who we are and to make choices based on that knowing. This hidden scripture suggests that Christianity before the fourth century was about defying the patriarchy, not deifying it. But early church fathers excluded The Acts of Paul and Thecla, along with others like The Gospel of Mary, from the New Testament.

Watterson synthesizes scripture, memoir, and politics to illuminate a story that has been left out of the canon for far too long, one that follows a girl freeing herself from a life predicated on the expectations of others—a path that made her feel unworthy. Thecla’s story offers us a path to take back the power we often give to others and live based on the truth of who we are.

Praise for The Girl Who Baptized Herself

The Girl Testimonials

“Meggan Watterson writes with a prophet’s vision and a mystic’s heart.”

–Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO Thrive Global

“Watterson invites us to reclaim the parts of ourselves that we’ve been told to hide for centuries, reminding us of who we really are: holy, whole, and free.”

–Elise Loehnen, New York Times bestselling author of On Our Best Behavior

“Now more than ever, we need this two-thousand-year-old story to remind us that our power is not in any external force, but within. And that it is with our own self-authority, our own self- blessing, and our own naked revolt to claim it. This isn’t a story, it’s a playbook.”

–Holly Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of Quit Like a Woman

“Our women ancestors across traditions show us how to labor for a world of love and liberation for all. Watterson gifts us with a lost treasure — a little-known gospel of a girl whose story unlocks our deepest courage. Let Thecla ignite your heart, as she has mine.”

–Valarie Kaur, New York Times bestselling author of SEE NO STRANGER

“Immediate gnostic knowing and feminist fury: this is writing and conviction at their very best. We desperately need Meggan Watterson about right now.”

–Jeffrey J. Kripal, PhD, author of How to Think Impossibly

“Thecla’s story is a compelling roadmap for readers to live authentically and challenge the patriarchal norms that have silenced women’s voices for centuries. Watterson’s book illuminates a path to epiphanies and empowerment.”

–Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand Action, and author of Fired Up

“Reading Meggan Watterson is like remembering a world that has always existed within you and finally knowing that you’re not alone. The Girl Who Baptized Herself is living proof that no matter how deep the truth is buried, it always acts as a seed, and finally, after all these years, we get to see it bloom.”

–Jake Wesley Rogers, Artist, songwriter, and queer storyteller

“Watterson is masterful and brilliant, weaving words together in a way that has you craving more. She immerses you in feminist fire while also quenching your theological thirst. This book will spark the imagination of a generation hungry for a transformative Bible.”

–Rahiel Tesfamariam, Award-winning activist and author of Imagine Freedom

“The book that kept me up way too late.”

— Glennon Doyle

Glennon Doyle’s Book Recommendations

“a vibrant and creative reframing of traditional Christian power paradigms”

— Publishers Weekly

Top 10 in Religion & Spirituality
Publishers Weekly Review

“a bold, feminist exploration of spiritual awakening”

— Booklist

“In Watterson’s telling, Thecla epitomizes “the ascendancy of the powerless.”

“Watterson shares the message for the sake of other women who have not yet learned how to believe in themselves. There is an enduring appeal to this teenage saint’s story, someone written off by others who finds an unconditional source of love and power within herself. Thecla shines so brightly that others are inspired to seek after this same source of inner strength. She inspired me, too. After reading this book, I couldn’t help but fantasize about a dramatic self-baptism of my own, perhaps in the quiet bubbling stream of spring waters near my hometown. My body would submerge into the cold waters, and I would shed expectations, rising anew.”

— Hojung Lee

About the Author

MEGGAN WATTERSON is a renowned feminist theologian and the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Mary Magdalene Revealed. She has a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University. She created The House of Mary Magdalene – a spiritual community that studies sacred texts left out of the traditional canon and practices the soul-voice meditation. Her work has appeared in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Huffington Post, TEDxWomen, and Marie Claire.