veils and prophesy

Good morning friends,
Amazingly enough, yesterday was my first anniversary at Laurelton. Time really flies, and it's been a blessing to serve with you this last year. Today's reading is a tough one. We see clearly here that Paul was a man of his time and inherited the limits that come along with being a product of his environment, just as we all inherit the limits of our environments. Some scholars have argued that this section might not be original to the text, but was inserted later. I appreciate Paul, so I would like to believe that, but I'm not convinced.

Paul assumes here, as his audience assumed, that women and men are not equal. Some of the language he uses to express this is pretty shocking to us: "the husband is the head of his wife" and "If a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair," stand out especially. I don't think we can honestly understand the text without admitting that this is Paul's assumption. With that in mind, I'd like to say three things that soften Paul's project before moving on.

First, Paul assumes here that women are going to have public leadership roles in the church. He wouldn't tell them to wear a veil when prophesying if he thought they shouldn't prophesy in church. This idea is also supported by the fact that Paul acknowledged women leaders in the early church. He often mentions Priscilla as a leader and he refers to a woman named Junia as an apostle. Second, it seems one of Paul's concerns with limiting the role of women was how it would be perceived by those outside the church. He may have feared that "too much" equality would make people outside the church ignore the message because of the packaging. Third, Paul has a sense that the radical transformation that comes with being "in the Lord" changes the relationship between the sexes. Here he writes, "In the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God." More radically in Galatians he writes that in Christ there is no longer male or female.

What Paul says is often helpful, but it is not speech directly from God. One of Paul's arguments for women being subordinate is that God is the head of Christ. That's not the only time Paul makes a statement about Christ's subordination to God in this letter, either. A few centuries after Paul, this question of the Father and Son's relation was a topic of controversy and the Church affirmed that Father, Son and Spirit were co-equal and co-eternal. Of course the church at that time didn't examine the possibility that women and men were equal as well. It's also obvious that Paul is making much of his argument from cultural beliefs. While women still often wear their hair longer than men, we don't think of it as shameful for women to have short hair or for men to have long hair. It's interesting that in most pictures people paint of Jesus and the apostles they all had long hair, even though Paul says that's shameful. Paul didn't know everything, but let's not allow his limits to keep him from hearing his helpful advise on many other questions.

Blessings,
Sam

1 Corinthians 11:2-16

2I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you. 3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. 4Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head, 5but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head—it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. 6For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil.

7For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man. 8Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. 10For this reason a woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

11Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. 12For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God. 13Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? 14Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16But if anyone is disposed to be contentious—we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.