of Thomas in a mode characteristic of late twentieth-century analysis of intertextuality. For him, intertextuality refers to the interaction of cultural texts of all sorts: performances, concepts, images and metaphors, as well as literary texts. Texts are "any cultural phenomenon with a material base that communicates." Thus, "texts materialize cultural systems of communication and discourse." Texts can be distinguished from discourse by understanding that "discourse is the social process in which texts are embedded," while a text is a concrete material object produced in discourse. Valantasis refers to his focus of interest as cultural intertextuality. From my perspective his mode of analysis is thoroughly at home in socio-rhetorical interpretation (Robbins 1996a; 1996b; 1996c).

Proceeding in a manner characteristic of socio-rhetorical interpretation, Valantasis constructs a taxonomy of cultural intertextuality: (a) inter-religious; (b) intra-traditional; and (c) discursive. Inter-religious intertextuality in Acts of Thomas incorporates non-Christian philosophical systems of male formation into Christian formation. The groom's response to Jesus' invitation and exhortation to the bridal chamber in Acts of Thomas exhibits this mode of intertextuality and results in a fully empowered male participant in an elite philosophical community. Intra-traditional intertextuality in Acts of Thomas reveals that Thomas tradition becomes a site for "continuing conversation about the role and status of women" in Christianity. Within this intra-traditional intertextual context, the bride in Acts of Thomas replaces a social husband with a heavenly or spiritual husband. This kind of intertextual analysis and interpretation does not posit a "Thomasine community." Rather, it identifies a "textual" conversation that occurs in "discourse associated with a particular person," in this instance Thomas. This is a mode of analysis and interpretation that should, in my view, supplement and refine other kinds of "trajectory" analyses in the future. It will be important to include the inter-religious and intra-traditional intertextuality of Infancy Gospel of Thomas in this analysis. From the point of view of inter-religious intertextuality, in Infancy Thomas Jesus resists persistent attempts to initiate him into Hellenistic civilization by teaching him "Greek" letters. From the point of view of intra-religious intertextuality, Jesus resists and becomes civilized through a process in which the divine powers within him gradually transform into beneficent actions as a result of the efforts of the divine Jesus himself, without the aid of cultural paideia. This reveals the manner in which Thomas tradition is a site for negotiating the power of the individual to seek and find understanding that can transform divine attributes within him or her into a person who can participate fully in the saving activity of God. Valantasis exhibits discursive intertextuality in Acts of Thomas by placing the bride's response, which reveals the status and meaning of marriage in Christianity, alongside discussion of procreation and children in Gospel of Philip. Between these texts one sees a cultural discussion about birth of spiri-