Agency in Timothy’s Circumcision

This study takes an interdisciplinary approach to the question of why Timothy is circumcised in Acts 16. Haley Gabrielle addresses the anti-Jewish, Orientalist legacies that have previously prevented full consideration of Timothy’s agency in this passage, and she critiques the stereotype that Jewish circumcision is inherently painful, irrational, and unable to be chosen. Informed by more complex models of agency found in South Asian feminist thought, she argues that in Luke-Acts, circumcision is associated with positive affect, ethical decision-making, and the normalcy of one’s community participating in one’s circumcision. As Timothy’s character is depicted acting within existing power structures in pursuit of self-formation, his action takes on further meaning within the coalitional model of identity offered by the Way. Together with the Jerusalem council decision of Acts 15, the story of Timothy's circumcision demonstrates that the Way authorizes multiple possible ways of embodying sexual self-control. Gabrielle’s methodology explores the possibilities of South Asian hermeneutics, and her analysis furthers the state of current conversations about of circumcision, tradition, and agency in biblical texts.