Re-Examining Pauline and Deutero-Pauline Epistles: A Focus on Women in Light of Gender Criticism
Kelsi
The Apostle Paul’s statements concerning women and gender found in the undisputed[1] and disputed[2] Epistles have been of much interest to feminist scholars[3] in recent New Testament scholarship.[4] The debates focus on Paul’s attitude toward women, the actual circumstances of women’s lives, and how his teachings are influenced by the ideological cultural values of the Greco-Roman world.[5] More specifically, this article focuses on the issues surrounding women in a few Pauline and Deutero-Pauline passages that mention women’s prophecy and roles during worship (1 Cor. 11.2-16), women’s silence (1 Corin. 14.34-35), gender-based distinctions (Gal. 3.28), women as deacons and apostles (Rom. 16.7), as well as issues around women’s roles and household codes found in the Pastoral Epistles.[6] The main issue analyzed is how Paul regards women, as either equal partners with men within the Christian community, or does he assign them a subordinate role based on the evidence found in these texts?
In 1 Corinthians 11.2-16, Paul expected the women to pray and prophesy in the community’s worship. However, the focal point is not on women as leaders but rather on “the conventional symbols of sexual difference,” and the behavior of women.[7] This passage can also be understood, as argued in Feminist Biblical Interpretation, as a reinforcement of the gender hierarchy and the second-class order of women through Paul’s theological argument.[8] These ideas reflect the honor and shame systems of value in the Greco-Roman world.[9] According to Torjesen, Paul’s solution to women who were adopting male virtues (prestige, honor, leadership roles) was to instruct them to wear head coverings in order for women prophets to preserve female shame and avoid shamelessness.[10] Moreover, behavior that might be judged by the outside world as shameful for women could dishonor men and bring disgrace on the whole community.[11] It can be concluded that in this passage, Paul reinforces the patriarchal Greco-Roman cultural view of honor and shame in order to subordinate women in his community.
Another Pauline passage that suppresses the public role of women and mandates them to be silent in the worshipping community is 1 Corin. 14.34-35. There are four dominant interpretations argued by scholars: 1). this passage can be understood as a pastoral directive aimed at a specific situation instead of a general rule,[12] 2). it refers only to married women,[13] 3). it is an interpolation[14] and 4). the rhetorical goal and climax of the letter leads to Paul’s silencing of female prophets in Corinth.[15] As suggested by Hawkins, in this passage, along with 1 Corin. 11.2-16, Paul conjoins theological claims of common sense, based on Greco-Roman ideologies, and natural law, based on his understanding of Genesis, to support his arguments. Furthermore, Paul wants to cast gender differentiation and a hierarchical relationship between men and women, as he believes is ordained by God.[16]
In contradiction to these texts, there are also Pauline passages that remove gender-based distinctions instead of reinforcing them. Galatians 3:28[17] can be understood as a radical egalitarian declaration where “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all are one in Christ Jesus.”[18] This is argued to be a declaration of “God’s new act to create in Christ, God’s image, a new reality lacking the privilege of male over female.”[19] Paul has dismantled gender-based distinctions and erased sexual difference.[20] According to Fiorenza, it was no longer circumcision but baptism which was the primary rite of initiation, and this changed the ecclesial-social status, function, rights and duties of women.[21] It should also be noted that patristic and gnostic writers[22] could only express the equality of Christian women with men in their communities as “manliness,” whereas this passage does not commend maleness, but rather the oneness found in Christ where all distinctions are overcome and all structures of domination are eliminated.[23]
In addition to Gal. 3.28, there are other Pauline passages that show women in a more positive light, more specifically as leaders in the Christian communities.[24] One of these important female leaders is Junia[25] mentioned in Rom. 16.7, where Paul gives her special attention in his letter: “Greet Andronicus and Junia… they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.”[26] According to Stephenson, Paul’s definition of “apostle” has four main components: the word “apostle” is a much broader term that encompasses more than just the twelve apostles of Jesus,[27] Paul thinks very highly of apostleship,[28] and there are specific conditions that one goes through in order to qualify as an apostle. These conditions include encountering the risen Christ and receiving a commission to teach the good news of the gospel, and enduring the sufferings connected to missionary work.[29] Junia and her apostleship show that the ministry of the early Pauline Christian communities was composed of both female and male leaders, thus, Paul was not opposed to women prophets or female leadership in the Christian communities.[30]
In the Pastoral Epistles,[31] there are passages that reinscribe the values of the Greco-Roman social order and accept the structure in which they operate, that is the household, but work to change them into a Christian model.[32] For the Pastorals, opponents of this structure of social order are the younger “deviant” women in the community.[33] Moreover, female sexuality, as suggested by Streete, should be directed towards a heterosexual marriage and the creation of a stable household.[34] Greco-Roman ideological cultural views on public (male space) versus private (female space) also play a role in the behavior and function of women in the Pastorals.
1 Tim. 2:8-15[35] brings up issues around women’s roles during prayer and worship,[36] as well as the prohibition of women’s authority and leadership in the Christian community.[37] These issues are directly related to the Greco-Roman cultural ideals of public and private domains, which have influence on male and female behavior. Suggested by Scholer, the progression of thought in 1 Tim. 2.8-15 moves from concern for women’s adornment (vv. 9-10) to concern for women’s submission and silence in public worship (vv. 11-12) to the subordination of women interpreted from Genesis (vv. 13-14) to women’s place in the church (v. 15).[38] Moreover, he argues that these are part of the same issue in the cultural settings of the ancient world, which assumed male dominance and a belief in women’s subordination.[39] The sphere of public activity is solely a male prerogative in the ancient world, but women who were financially wealthy had more authority and leadership within the public arena.[40] With this background, it could be plausible that the Author is forcing women into the restrictive framework of their domestic roles as wives. It can be concluded that these restrictive instructions for women “derives their strength from applying the household model of the church.”[41]
1 Tim. 3.11 also deals with male superiority and female subordination in relation to leadership positions in the Christian community. This passage explicitly speaks of women holding positions within the church, like being a diaconate. However, this position can be held by men or women, whereas the position of bishop can only be held by males.[42] According to Feminist Biblical Interpretation, the Author takes for granted the existence of women deacons[43] and emphasizes the men who hold the office, which he also connects with fulfilling the role of the head of the house. Additionally, the Author is arguing for the ideal Roman wife who is visible in the qualifications required for women deacons who should be “serious, no slanders, but temperate, faithful in all things,” as well as in the guidelines for women’s conduct inside the church.[44] Leadership within this community still consists of males and females but is restricted to the “status stratifications of the Greco-Roman household and society.”[45]
1 Tim. 5.3-16 focuses on the regulation of widows[46] in which the Author wants to make sure that these specific women are not too independent or influential on the others within the Christian community.[47] As seen above in the examination of other passages found in First Timothy, the Author argues for the traditional hierarchy of the patriarchal family against the false teachings of his opponents. First, the Author attempts to reduce the number of women in this group of widows and to limit who is in the circle.[48] The Author also had many things to consider when writing this letter – his concern for public opinion, the threat of the false teachers, and probably his own aversion to women’s leadership – that he used to “neutralize a group that nurtured women’s spirituality and empowerment in the early post-Pauline church.”[49] Lastly, Titus 2.3 plays a significant role in understanding the Author’s view toward women and the contemporary cultural ideologies. In this passage, the Author designates the older women to be virtuous (chaste, good, homemakers) women who instruct the younger women in following the household code.[50] He also expresses concern for the reputation of the church within the larger Greco-Roman society (1 Tit. 2.5) and wants to make sure that these women are behaving appropriately.
The authentic Pauline Epistles demonstrate that women’s leadership was neither different nor diminished in relation to that of men.[51] Paul, along with other men in the ancient world, did not see women’s presence or status in the churches as something remarkable but rather as something casual. Nonetheless, women still played vital roles in these communities.[52] These Pauline texts move on a development that leads to a full “acknowledgment of equality, while still maintaining an insistence on the divinely given quality of sexual difference.”[53] In the Pastorals, the household codes concern the excess of women and slaves in the community and their behavior, which threatened the stability of the Pauline churches. These authors were struggling to maintain two contradictory points – differentiation of sexual identity on the one hand and equality of honor and role on the other hand.[54]
Endnotes
1. “Undisputed” refers to the Pauline Epistles that scholars have determined to be authentic to Paul, which include: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon. See Margaret Y. MacDonald, “Reading Real Women through the Undisputed Letters of Paul,” in Women and Christian Origins, ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 200.
2. “Disputed” refers to the Pauline Epistles that most scholars argue are composed by one of his students or disciples, which include: Colossians, Ephesians, the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus), and perhaps 1 Thessalonians, but the authorship of this epistle is highly debated. See MacDonald, “Rereading Paul: Early Interpreters of Paul on Women and Gender,” in Women and Christian Origins, ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 236.
3. It should be noted that using the term “feminist” does not confine feminist biblical scholarship to just studying women or ‘women’s issues’ but also focuses on other groups within the community (such as slaves), and other human particularities such as race, ethnicity, class, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, as well as gender.
4. For a more detailed discussion, see Richard B. Hays, “Paul on the Relation between Men and Women,” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2004), 143.
5. MacDonald, “Reading Real Women,” 216. In reconstructing the lives of women in the Pauline communities, scholars have shifted their focus from Paul’s attitudes toward women toward the actual circumstances of women’s lives. This includes analyzing the texts in which women are remembered, paying close attention to the titles used to describe them (e.g., Rom. 16.7) and the role they are said to have played (e.g., 1 Tim. 5.3-16). There are also “indirect indications of women’s lives in the form of pronouncements on women and gender” (e.g., 1 Cor. 11.3-16). Ibid, “Reading Real Women,” 216.
6. Specific passages analyzed in this article include 1 Tim. 2.8-15; 1 Tim. 3.11; 1 Tim. 5.3-16; and Tit. 2.3-5. According to Fiorenza, the Pastorals are argued to be traditions on how to behave in the household of the church. Additionally, the church is believed to be the “new family” but is understood to be so in terms of the patriarchal household. Church leadership is based on the societal status distinctions of the patriarchal household, which include age and gender qualifications rather than on one’s spiritual giftedness. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad Pub., 1983), 288-89.
7. According to Hays, “Paul on the Relation between Men and Women,” 143-44. Paul’s concern for the conventional symbols of sexual difference demonstrated through clothing and hair styles is what is retained in this passage instead of a concern for leadership roles for women in the community. That is, how women should arrange their hair (or cover their heads) in a specific way while praying and prophesying. For further details on head covering and the Corinthian women see Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 227-28. Fiorenza argues that the Christian Corinthian women saw loose and unbound hair as a sign of their ecstatic worship and a mark of true prophetic behavior. Paul, on the other hand, sees building up of the community and intelligible missionary proclamation as the true signs of the Spirit. Thus, Fiorenza suggests that in this context, it is understandable why Paul insists that women should keep their hair bound up.
8. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker. Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012), 731-33. Other gender-critical issues that explored in this passage include gender performance during worship, gender division based on his theological interpretations of Genesis 1.27, 2.18-22, 3.16 and Genesis 6.1-4; the definition of femininity in terms of subordination and sexuality, which is kept under control through men’s dominance, and the definition of masculinity, which is described by being in God’s image and the dominance over women. Furthermore, positive theological determinations of femininity based on “all things are from God” is argued, but is still in the patriarchal framework of reference (11.11-12), and lastly some arguments from nature, general custom and the sense of what is proper and decent as a rhetorical strategy to defend his claims (11. 13-16).
9. For example, Paul states that woman is to be man’s glory, which means that her presence reflects honor on him and makes the man vulnerable to shame through her. Antionette Clark Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 120. Additionally, women are not suppose to shame themselves by being shaven, praying or prophesying with head uncovered, or by speaking in the church, according to 1 Corinthians 11.5-6 and 14.34. This also reflects common views of how a “woman should not expose her weakness and bring herself into shame.” Additionally, Paul understands that women can shame other women just by association and that women will shame the angels as well, based on his interpretation of Genesis 6. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets, 21. It should also be noted that the Corinthian women who were praying and prophesying with their heads uncovered do so to “signify that they are no longer determined by shame through sexual subordination but are determined by honor through the spirit as persons who have put on Christ, God’s image not male and female, and mediate God to each other.” Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets,” 183.
10. Karen Jo Torjesen, When Women Were Priests (New York: Harper Collins Pub., 1993), 144-45. In this chapter, Torjesen goes into more detail about how male virtues (prestige, honor, precedence) and female virtues (submission to authority, sexual exclusiveness, deference) are connected to their honor and shame, and how Paul wants these women prophets to publicly display the values of women’s subordination, thus reaffirming the function of femaleness to symbolize shame even though they were exercising authority.
11. In the gender-divided Greco-Roman world, a concern with boundaries often leads to attention on female deportment, as can be seen in this text. Paul’s teaching must also be understood as a response to behavior which takes place on the boundary between the private and public, the house-church, and the outside world. Furthermore, physical space plays a role in women’s behavior because women may have brought behavior that they practiced in their homes into the more public domain of the house-church. MacDonald, “Real Women,” 216.
12. Hays., Paul on the Relation, 145. According to Hays, this explanation makes sense of v.35 but overlooks v.34b, vv.34 and 35 as well as v.33b if it is read with v.34, where Paul would be asserting female silence and subordination as a rule for all communities, not just for a particular problem at Corinth.
13. Ibid., Paul on the Relation, 145. In addition, this interpretation would work since married women are subordinate to their husbands in the Greco-Roman world and thus would keep quiet. However, it means that the interpreter is assuming something in the text that isn’t actually there – that female prophets are unmarried – which is not found in 1 Corin. 1.2-16. It also overlooks the evidence for married women such as Prisca and Junia who did have leadership roles in the Pauline communities.
14. Ibid., Paul on the Relation, 145. This passage has been argued to be an interpolation – not written by Paul but added later by an editor or scribe – and has been found in ancient manuscripts at the end of the letter which could support this claim. However, there are no existing manuscripts that leave out vv. 34-35, which means that if these verses were added to the text, they were added at a very early stage. For further details for the authenticity of 1 Corin. 14.34-35 see Lee A. Johnson, “In Search of the Voice of Women in the Churches: Revisiting the Command to Silence Women in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35,” in Women in Biblical World: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2012), 137-41.
15. Ibid., Paul on the Relation, 145. This last suggestion is argued by Antionette Wire who rejects the interpolation theory and states that this passage is constructed to lead up to Paul’s silencing of women through his rhetorical strategies. She does leave open the idea on whether Paul did this on purpose or if it came about when he was trying to resolve this problem in Corinth. Furthermore, this argument suggests that 1 Corin. 14.34-35 is read as a “preliminary restriction on the dress and behavior of female prophets.”
16 For further discussion see Faith Kirkham Hawkins, “Does Paul Make a Difference?” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2004), 169-72.
17. It should be noted that Gal. 3.27-28, along with 1 Cor. 12.12-13 and Col. 3.9-11, are widely thought to represent a pre-Pauline baptismal confession developed from Genesis as a new creation story. They all share a common structure and are accepted traditions that Paul uses to validate his arguments. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets,” 123-25. Furthermore, Paul reexamines the Genesis story and argues that Jesus is an heir of Abraham and that he is the first seed. He then eliminates the genealogical, social, and political hierarchy and argues that the only thing that matters is origin from God the Father and the (non-biological) father Abraham. Schottroff and Wacker. Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 760. More specifically, Paul states “male and female” not “male or female,” alluding back to Gen. 1.27, and the word choice of “male and female” instead of “man and woman” has been examined by scholars. They have concluded that this wording means that not only the “social differences between men and women are involved but also the biological distinctions.” Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 211.
18. Gal. 3:28, all translations are from NRSV unless otherwise stated.
19. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets,” 126.
20. Paul supersedes Genesis 1:27 (“And God created humankind in his image… male and female he created them”) with the new creation in Christ, in which sexual difference is abolished. Hays, “Paul on the Relation,” 139.
21. Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 210-13. The Christian movement was not based on racial and national inheritance and kinship lines, like it was for Judaism, but rather on a new creation in Jesus Christ through baptism. This changed the role and status of women in the community since family and kinship did not determine the social structures of the Christian movement. Men and women in the Pauline Christian community are not defined by their sexual abilities or by their religious, cultural or social gender roles, but by their discipleship and empowerment from the Spirit. It should also be noted that in the ancient world not only were sexual and gender roles considered to be “grounded in biological nature but also cultural, racial, and social differences.” However, in the modern world sexual and gender roles are cultural-social properties, as argued in feminist studies, which are products of a patriarchal culture.
22. Fiorenza argues that gnostic writings advocate androgyny. Also, she mentions Wayne Meeks’ argument that this passage “evokes the myth of androgyny that was widespread in Hellenism, Judaism, and especially gnosticism.” Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 204-5. Take for example the second-century apocryphal writing The Acts of Paul and Thecla, where Thecla has to become “manly” in order to become known as missionary. Paul and Thecla also shows the power and authority of women missionaries at the beginning of the Christian movement but does so within the romantic style of the Hellenistic novel, meaning that although Thecla is a woman missionary she’s also represented as a preacher and missionary only in romantic disguise. In other words, Thecla, in the “genre of romantic love, is infatuated, follows the apostle Paul, and remains faithful to him.” Nevertheless, this story has been quoted as early as the second century as “justification of the right of women to teach and to baptize. “ Ibid., In Memory of Her, 173-74.
23. Ibid, In Memory of Her, 218.
24. The other Pauline passages that show women in leadership or important roles in his communities include Phoebe as a deacon (Romans 16:1-2), Prisca and Aquila, a wife and husband team (Romans 16:3-4; cf. Acts 18:18-28), women who are “workers of the Lord,” which include Mary, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, and Persis (Romans 16:1-16), and Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3). Hays, “Paul on the Relation,” 144. See also MacDonald, “Rereading Real Women,” 199-220. In her essay, she discusses the important roles women played in the Pauline communities which include some of the women listed above as well as Chloe (1 Corin. 16.8), Apphia (Phile. 2), and Junia (Rom. 16.7).
25. It is concluded by Hope Stephenson, along with other scholars she mentions in her article, that Junia is indeed the correct translation of the name, that it is feminine, and that “Junia was the first and only woman to be called an apostle in the New Testament.” In her article, she examines the linguistic data as well as analyzes the views of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers to argue that “Junia” is a woman and not a man known as “Junias,” that she belongs to the group Paul calls “outstanding among the apostles” instead of “well known to the apostles,” and she explores Paul’s definition of “apostle.” Hope Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” in Women in the Biblical World: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives, ed. Elizabeth A. McCabe (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009), 117- 34.
26. Rom. 16.7, NRSV.
27. The word “apostle” means “messenger, missionary preacher, or itinerant missionary,” and is used to describe church leaders as well. In Rom. 16.7, Paul means that Junia and Andronicus are itinerant missionaries, which is important, according to Stephenson, because God appoints apostles first to the Church. This also means that Junia and Andronicus worked as evangelists and planted new churches while traveling as apostles. Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 127-28.
28. See 2 Corin. 12.11-12, where he defends himself against those who call themselves “super-apostles,” and see also Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 128. Stephenson suggests that this shows that Paul does not use this term “apostle” carelessly “since he takes such great effort in maintaining the integrity of his own apostleship.”
29. However, Junia and Andronicus did not encounter the risen Christ. Stephenson agrees with other scholars (Peter Richardson) that this condition was met by the presence of the Spirit in missionary success, therefore, Junia and Andronicus fit the criteria to be considered an apostle. See Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 128. Fiorenza also agrees with the claim that “Andronicus and Junia fulfill all the criteria of true apostleship,” and that they should be considered apostles. For further discussion on Andronicus and Junia as missionaries see Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 172.
30. Ibid, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 129. Only through the rise of patriarchy in the church did the acceptance of women apostles and leaders die out.
31. Even though the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles is debated, this article will refer to the authors of the Pastorals as “Author” and “he.”
32. Gail P.C. Streete, “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics? The Gynaikaria of the Pastoral Epistles,” in Women in the Biblical world: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives ed. Elizabeth A. McCabe (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009), 155.
33. For further discussion see ibid., “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics,” 156-62. The younger women do not abide by the social rules such as not staying put in their own “proper” households with their husbands, but instead they abstain from marriage altogether and visit other households or let other males into their own. Additionally, these women either don’t have households or their households lack a male “head” - widows.
34. Streete, “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics,” 156.
35. According to Scholer, the purpose of 1 Timothy is to combat the Ephesian heresy that Timothy faced. 1 Tim. 2.8-15 addresses a specific situation of false teachings in Ephesus that abused what was considered appropriate and honorable behavior for women. Some of these false teachings include a prohibition of marriage and an assault on what was considered appropriate models for women in that society, Furthermore, it has been suggested by some scholars that 1 Tim. 3.14-15 determines the character of 1 Tim. 2.8-15, or that 1 Tim. 3.14-15 should be seen as a “summary statement of the specific directions given for meeting a particular problem of heresy that Timothy was facing in Ephesus at that time.” Either way, the false teachings appealed to women and led them so astray that traditional values of marriage and the home was seriously violated. David M. Scholer, “1 Timothy 2.9-15 and the Place of Women in the Church’s Ministry,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 103-5. Additionally, the Author believed that the behavior of the Christians was under public scrutiny, which had the potential of creating major problems for the church. The Christians were a minority sect worshiping a different god than the rest of the contemporary society, which gave them good reason to be cautious of being too different than the Greco-Roman world. Jouette M. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation: The Calculus of Widows in 1 Timothy 5.3-16,” in in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 131. It can also be argued that the contemporary ideologies of the Greco-Roman world played a role in how the Author was creating a specific Christian identity that could fit into the contemporary society as well as fit into Christian values and beliefs.
36. More specifically, the Author bases his argument - that women should not have external adornment (ostentatious clothing or costly jewelry) during the worship service - on Hellenistic concepts of virtue (modesty, reserve, and respectability), which when applied to women by the Author, have a strong sexual connotation. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 836.
37. The Author prohibits women from teaching (having authority over men), which is connected to the same tradition as the command to silence women in 1 Corin. 14.34-35. According to Feminist Biblical Interpretation, the shift between these two texts makes clear that the Author’s concern of 1 Tim. is “sound teaching” and is directed against independent theological thinking and teaching by women, which is seen as overstepping their social and religious roles as women. Ibid., Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 837.
38. Scholer, “1 Timothy 2.9-15,” 98-121.
39. Scholer, “1 Timothy 2.9-15,” 106.
40. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 838.
41. For further discussion see ibid., Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 838.
42. Ibid., Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 835.
43. It should be noted that although women are holding positions within the church, these positions are restricted to teaching and leading of other women. Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 290.
44. Lilian Portefaix, “’Good Citizenship’ in the Household of God: Women’s Positions in the Pastorals Reconsidered in the Light of Roman Rule,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 155.
45. Fiorenza, In Her Memory, 291.
46. For a detailed discussion on the background of Paul and celibate women see Jouette M. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation: The Calculus of Widows in 1 Timothy 5.3-16,” in in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 123-31.
47. These widows were ascetic-charismatic women, who were usually financially independent, which gave them some authority within the community and the public arena, and the Author wants them to follow the values and conform to the norms of the household code and the private household tasks designated for women. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 840.
48. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation,” 141-45. One way the Author does this is by establishing an age limit that reduced the number of widows on the list. The church would honor the elderly women known for their piety as mistresses of Christian households, and in doing so it would honor the value system of Greco-Roman society.
49. Ibid., “Limits and Differentiation,” 146.
50. This restrictive function includes teaching the younger women to submit to their husbands and to fulfill the obligations that go with their role of wife, mother and manager of the household. Even though these women are given instruction to teach, it is restricted to the instruction of other women, since subordinate members of the household must subject themselves to the head of the house. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 839.
51. This is also true for other groups in ancient society. According to MacDonald, there are comparative studies that show that the appearance of women in leadership roles should not be seen as unique in the ancient world. Rather, early Christian women acted in ways that were in line with the leadership of women in other communities in the Greco-Roman world. For further details see MacDonald, Women in Christian Origins, 199-220.
52. Although these women typically came from the more privileged ranks of the church – women with wealth and independence who could travel, host a church at their homes, or serve as benefactors. Even these wealthy women were not considered particularly distinct in the Greco-Roman world. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation,” 124.
53. Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 206.
54. Ibid, In Memory of Her, 206.
Annotated Bibliography
Bassler, Jouette M. “Limits and Differentiation: The Calculus of Widows in 1 Timothy 5.3-16,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 122-46. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003.
Bassler’s essay works to reconstruct the nature of the widow’s circle, the motivations of those who participated in it, and the purpose of the restrictions imposed on the widows in 1 Tim. 5.3-16. He gives some background information on Paul and the celibate women, who they are, how they fit into the community, etc., and then discusses aspects of the Pastoral Epistles that discuss the background information of the text for the reader. Next, Bassler dives into a discussion about the unity of this passage as well as the widow’s circle and the Author’s response to restricting the circle.
Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Co., 1983.
Fiorenza’s book provides a thorough examination of women in the New Testament by reconstructing early Christian history as women’s history in order not only to restore women’s stories in early Christian history but also to reclaim this history as the history of women and men. She approaches the text from a feminist biblical method by exploring New Testament texts as well as going beyond the limits of the NT canon to approach a historical-critical reconstruction of women in early Christianity. Furthermore, she gives some background information to the Pastorals and gives some critical commentary to the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline texts that are related to women and gender.
Hawkins, Faith Kirkham. “Does Paul Make a Difference?” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 169-82. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2004.
In her essay, Hawkins observes Paul’s remarks on specific groups and how these groups are interrelated by looking at different particularities. Through careful assessment of Paul’s language and the structure of his argument, she argues that Paul responds to the differences in his community by locating the ‘weak’ and ‘those with knowledge’ within ‘the body of Christ.’ She provides important information on the background information for the Pastoral Epistles and strongly argues that Paul’s texts must be well examined in order to appropriately understand his views on women and gender. Lastly, this essay provides insights on the authentic Pauline texts that deal with women and gender roles.
Hays, Richard B. “Paul on the Relation between Men and Women,” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 137-47. Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 2004.
In Hay’s essay, he analyzes 1 Corinthians 11.3-16 and 14.34-35 and looks at the roles that women actually played in the social organization and worship life of the Pauline Christian communities. He looks at Galatians 3.28 as well and compares the two texts, which contradict each other, in order to better understand Paul’s views toward women. Additionally, he provides four different explanations of 1 Corinthians 14.34-35 that have been proposed by scholars and agrees with the interpolation interpretation. He concludes that Paul believes that men and women are equal in Christ but that equality cannot yet take away all the distinctions between men and women.
Johnson, Lee A. “In search of the voice of women in the churches: revisiting the command to silence women 1 Corinthians 14:34-35” in Women in the biblical world: a survey of Old and New Testament perspectives, edited by Elizabeth A. McCabe, 135-154. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2009.
Johnson’s essay discusses the issues that bring the authenticity of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 into question as well as summarizes and analyzes the historic interpretations of this passage. She concludes that women in the Pauline communities did have leadership roles and were called by the same titles as men, and relates this to Galatians 3.28. Additionally, the egalitarian vision of the early Pauline community was replaced by a more socially conservative model, in which women were suppose to be silent during worship services and were subordinate to the male leadership and authority.
MacDonald, Margaret Y. “Rereading Paul: Early Interpreters of Paul on Women and Gender,” in Women and Christian Origins, edited by Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo, 236-53. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
MacDonald explores several forms of Pauline traditions and suggests that women in these communities had some influence and leadership even though it is not the focus of the author. She starts with Acts and moves to Lydia and other women at Philippi, Priscilla, Colossians and Ephesians, the Pastoral Epistles, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and concludes that there are passages that silence women and circumvent their activities but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t passages that show influential women in power, as she shows in her examinations of early Christian women.
MacDonald, Margaret Y. “Rereading Real Women through the Undisputed Letter of Paul,” in Women and Christian Origins, edited by Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo, 199-220. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
MacDonald aims to reconstruct the lives of all of the named women in Paul’s undisputed Epistles, as well as analyzing Paul’s pronouncements on sexuality and gender where he refers to women’s activities (e.g., 1 Corin. 11.2-16 and 14.33b-36). The focus of this essay is to understand what roles women actually had in the Pauline communities, and in doing so, MacDonald leaves aside many complex issues raised by Paul’s position. She works to see through Paul’s teachings on how women should behave in his communities to find out how they actually behaved. She concludes that women were visible in leadership roles in the Pauline communities and that this isn’t unique to this specific group but rather that there are comparative studies that show women in leadership roles in other communities in the Greco-Roman world.
Portefaix, Lilian. “’Good Citizenship’ in the Household of God: Women’s Positions in the Pastorals Reconsidered in the Light of Roman Rule,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 147-58. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003.
Portefaix argues in her essay that the heretical teachers, who encouraged the writing of First Timothy, cannot be isolated from the family politics of the Greco-Roman world. She discusses the political climate in the Empire drawing on literature of the time, and the moral climate by looking at the literary sources as a background for the teaching on Christian women while examining the Augustus family model of ancient times. Additionally, she argues that Christian women were directed in the Pastoral Epistles to take on the virtues of the ideal Roman woman (submissiveness and marriage).
Scholer, David M. “1 Timothy 2.9-15 and the Place of Women in the Church’s Ministry,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 98-121. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003.
Scholer provides exegetical and hermeneutical considerations on 1 Tim. 2.9-15 in order to appropriately interpret this Deutero-Pauline text and to understand the place of women within the church. He concludes that this passage should be understood as a unified paragraph on the place of women in the church in Ephesus, and that it was limited to a particular situation of false teaching. Furthermore, he adds that this passage has to be placed in the context of all other Pauline data on the participation of women in ministry, and that one should be careful in interpreting this passage because of its biblical authority for contemporary readers.
Schottroff, Luise and Marie-Theres Wacker. Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012.
The Feminist Biblical Interpretation brings to light women and women’s issues as well as other gender-critical particularities that have been overlooked in previous commentaries. The authors look to a historical-critical method to critique androcentric interpretations of the biblical texts. This is an important book to use because it approaches the biblical texts with new insights and observations that have been previously overlooked or interpreted separately from the text as a whole. For example, the authors shed new light on the Pastoral Epistles and their view of how women and men relate to one another. They also work to reconstruct the history of women in the early church.
Stephenson, Hope. “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” in Women in the biblical world: a survey of Old and New Testament perspectives, edited by Elizabeth A. McCabe, 117-134. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2009.
In her essay, Stephenson examines the linguistic data as well as analyzes the views of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers to argue that “Junia” is a woman and not a man known as “Junias,” that she belongs to the group Paul calls “outstanding among the apostles” instead of “well known to the apostles,” and she explores Paul’s definition of “apostle.” Moreover, she examines this text from a feminist biblical perspective in order to overcome the androcentric nature of the biblical text and to explore the historical context in order to reconstruct the real stories of women in early Christianity. By examining Junia the Apostle in Romans 16.7, it can be concluded that there were male and female leaders in the early church.
Streete, Gail P.C. “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics? The Gynaikaria of the Pastoral Epistles,” in Women in the Biblical world: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives, edited by Elizabeth A. McCabe, 155-64. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009.
Streete analyzes the Gynaikaria of the Pastoral Epistles and looks at the roles they played within the community and gives some background information to these Epistles. He examines the language of the text and concludes that the Pastorals, which he compares to non canonical texts such as the Acts of Paul and Thecla, understand sexual gratification as included within heterosexual marriage, with the intent of reproducing individual households and thus building up the community. Furthermore, Streete argues that the Pastorals insist that women need direction from rational men to direct them in the correct behavior.
Wire, Antionette Clark. The Corinthian Women Prophets. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.
In her book, Wire focuses on reconstructing the roles, behavior and positions of the women prophets in the society and church of Corinth, as well as their values and theology. She focuses on the rhetoric of the texts explored rather than describing the Corinthians in order to understand women’s conduct, self-understanding and theology, as well as the social status of the Corinthian women. This text provided extensive background information to the Pauline communities, especially the Corinth community, including information on the honor and shame systems of value and the public and private spheres of the Greco-Roman world.
The Apostle Paul’s statements concerning women and gender found in the undisputed[1] and disputed[2] Epistles have been of much interest to feminist scholars[3] in recent New Testament scholarship.[4] The debates focus on Paul’s attitude toward women, the actual circumstances of women’s lives, and how his teachings are influenced by the ideological cultural values of the Greco-Roman world.[5] More specifically, this article focuses on the issues surrounding women in a few Pauline and Deutero-Pauline passages that mention women’s prophecy and roles during worship (1 Cor. 11.2-16), women’s silence (1 Corin. 14.34-35), gender-based distinctions (Gal. 3.28), women as deacons and apostles (Rom. 16.7), as well as issues around women’s roles and household codes found in the Pastoral Epistles.[6] The main issue analyzed is how Paul regards women, as either equal partners with men within the Christian community, or does he assign them a subordinate role based on the evidence found in these texts?
In 1 Corinthians 11.2-16, Paul expected the women to pray and prophesy in the community’s worship. However, the focal point is not on women as leaders but rather on “the conventional symbols of sexual difference,” and the behavior of women.[7] This passage can also be understood, as argued in Feminist Biblical Interpretation, as a reinforcement of the gender hierarchy and the second-class order of women through Paul’s theological argument.[8] These ideas reflect the honor and shame systems of value in the Greco-Roman world.[9] According to Torjesen, Paul’s solution to women who were adopting male virtues (prestige, honor, leadership roles) was to instruct them to wear head coverings in order for women prophets to preserve female shame and avoid shamelessness.[10] Moreover, behavior that might be judged by the outside world as shameful for women could dishonor men and bring disgrace on the whole community.[11] It can be concluded that in this passage, Paul reinforces the patriarchal Greco-Roman cultural view of honor and shame in order to subordinate women in his community.
Another Pauline passage that suppresses the public role of women and mandates them to be silent in the worshipping community is 1 Corin. 14.34-35. There are four dominant interpretations argued by scholars: 1). this passage can be understood as a pastoral directive aimed at a specific situation instead of a general rule,[12] 2). it refers only to married women,[13] 3). it is an interpolation[14] and 4). the rhetorical goal and climax of the letter leads to Paul’s silencing of female prophets in Corinth.[15] As suggested by Hawkins, in this passage, along with 1 Corin. 11.2-16, Paul conjoins theological claims of common sense, based on Greco-Roman ideologies, and natural law, based on his understanding of Genesis, to support his arguments. Furthermore, Paul wants to cast gender differentiation and a hierarchical relationship between men and women, as he believes is ordained by God.[16]
In contradiction to these texts, there are also Pauline passages that remove gender-based distinctions instead of reinforcing them. Galatians 3:28[17] can be understood as a radical egalitarian declaration where “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all are one in Christ Jesus.”[18] This is argued to be a declaration of “God’s new act to create in Christ, God’s image, a new reality lacking the privilege of male over female.”[19] Paul has dismantled gender-based distinctions and erased sexual difference.[20] According to Fiorenza, it was no longer circumcision but baptism which was the primary rite of initiation, and this changed the ecclesial-social status, function, rights and duties of women.[21] It should also be noted that patristic and gnostic writers[22] could only express the equality of Christian women with men in their communities as “manliness,” whereas this passage does not commend maleness, but rather the oneness found in Christ where all distinctions are overcome and all structures of domination are eliminated.[23]
In addition to Gal. 3.28, there are other Pauline passages that show women in a more positive light, more specifically as leaders in the Christian communities.[24] One of these important female leaders is Junia[25] mentioned in Rom. 16.7, where Paul gives her special attention in his letter: “Greet Andronicus and Junia… they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.”[26] According to Stephenson, Paul’s definition of “apostle” has four main components: the word “apostle” is a much broader term that encompasses more than just the twelve apostles of Jesus,[27] Paul thinks very highly of apostleship,[28] and there are specific conditions that one goes through in order to qualify as an apostle. These conditions include encountering the risen Christ and receiving a commission to teach the good news of the gospel, and enduring the sufferings connected to missionary work.[29] Junia and her apostleship show that the ministry of the early Pauline Christian communities was composed of both female and male leaders, thus, Paul was not opposed to women prophets or female leadership in the Christian communities.[30]
In the Pastoral Epistles,[31] there are passages that reinscribe the values of the Greco-Roman social order and accept the structure in which they operate, that is the household, but work to change them into a Christian model.[32] For the Pastorals, opponents of this structure of social order are the younger “deviant” women in the community.[33] Moreover, female sexuality, as suggested by Streete, should be directed towards a heterosexual marriage and the creation of a stable household.[34] Greco-Roman ideological cultural views on public (male space) versus private (female space) also play a role in the behavior and function of women in the Pastorals.
1 Tim. 2:8-15[35] brings up issues around women’s roles during prayer and worship,[36] as well as the prohibition of women’s authority and leadership in the Christian community.[37] These issues are directly related to the Greco-Roman cultural ideals of public and private domains, which have influence on male and female behavior. Suggested by Scholer, the progression of thought in 1 Tim. 2.8-15 moves from concern for women’s adornment (vv. 9-10) to concern for women’s submission and silence in public worship (vv. 11-12) to the subordination of women interpreted from Genesis (vv. 13-14) to women’s place in the church (v. 15).[38] Moreover, he argues that these are part of the same issue in the cultural settings of the ancient world, which assumed male dominance and a belief in women’s subordination.[39] The sphere of public activity is solely a male prerogative in the ancient world, but women who were financially wealthy had more authority and leadership within the public arena.[40] With this background, it could be plausible that the Author is forcing women into the restrictive framework of their domestic roles as wives. It can be concluded that these restrictive instructions for women “derives their strength from applying the household model of the church.”[41]
1 Tim. 3.11 also deals with male superiority and female subordination in relation to leadership positions in the Christian community. This passage explicitly speaks of women holding positions within the church, like being a diaconate. However, this position can be held by men or women, whereas the position of bishop can only be held by males.[42] According to Feminist Biblical Interpretation, the Author takes for granted the existence of women deacons[43] and emphasizes the men who hold the office, which he also connects with fulfilling the role of the head of the house. Additionally, the Author is arguing for the ideal Roman wife who is visible in the qualifications required for women deacons who should be “serious, no slanders, but temperate, faithful in all things,” as well as in the guidelines for women’s conduct inside the church.[44] Leadership within this community still consists of males and females but is restricted to the “status stratifications of the Greco-Roman household and society.”[45]
1 Tim. 5.3-16 focuses on the regulation of widows[46] in which the Author wants to make sure that these specific women are not too independent or influential on the others within the Christian community.[47] As seen above in the examination of other passages found in First Timothy, the Author argues for the traditional hierarchy of the patriarchal family against the false teachings of his opponents. First, the Author attempts to reduce the number of women in this group of widows and to limit who is in the circle.[48] The Author also had many things to consider when writing this letter – his concern for public opinion, the threat of the false teachers, and probably his own aversion to women’s leadership – that he used to “neutralize a group that nurtured women’s spirituality and empowerment in the early post-Pauline church.”[49] Lastly, Titus 2.3 plays a significant role in understanding the Author’s view toward women and the contemporary cultural ideologies. In this passage, the Author designates the older women to be virtuous (chaste, good, homemakers) women who instruct the younger women in following the household code.[50] He also expresses concern for the reputation of the church within the larger Greco-Roman society (1 Tit. 2.5) and wants to make sure that these women are behaving appropriately.
The authentic Pauline Epistles demonstrate that women’s leadership was neither different nor diminished in relation to that of men.[51] Paul, along with other men in the ancient world, did not see women’s presence or status in the churches as something remarkable but rather as something casual. Nonetheless, women still played vital roles in these communities.[52] These Pauline texts move on a development that leads to a full “acknowledgment of equality, while still maintaining an insistence on the divinely given quality of sexual difference.”[53] In the Pastorals, the household codes concern the excess of women and slaves in the community and their behavior, which threatened the stability of the Pauline churches. These authors were struggling to maintain two contradictory points – differentiation of sexual identity on the one hand and equality of honor and role on the other hand.[54]
Endnotes
1. “Undisputed” refers to the Pauline Epistles that scholars have determined to be authentic to Paul, which include: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon. See Margaret Y. MacDonald, “Reading Real Women through the Undisputed Letters of Paul,” in Women and Christian Origins, ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 200.
2. “Disputed” refers to the Pauline Epistles that most scholars argue are composed by one of his students or disciples, which include: Colossians, Ephesians, the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus), and perhaps 1 Thessalonians, but the authorship of this epistle is highly debated. See MacDonald, “Rereading Paul: Early Interpreters of Paul on Women and Gender,” in Women and Christian Origins, ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 236.
3. It should be noted that using the term “feminist” does not confine feminist biblical scholarship to just studying women or ‘women’s issues’ but also focuses on other groups within the community (such as slaves), and other human particularities such as race, ethnicity, class, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, as well as gender.
4. For a more detailed discussion, see Richard B. Hays, “Paul on the Relation between Men and Women,” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2004), 143.
5. MacDonald, “Reading Real Women,” 216. In reconstructing the lives of women in the Pauline communities, scholars have shifted their focus from Paul’s attitudes toward women toward the actual circumstances of women’s lives. This includes analyzing the texts in which women are remembered, paying close attention to the titles used to describe them (e.g., Rom. 16.7) and the role they are said to have played (e.g., 1 Tim. 5.3-16). There are also “indirect indications of women’s lives in the form of pronouncements on women and gender” (e.g., 1 Cor. 11.3-16). Ibid, “Reading Real Women,” 216.
6. Specific passages analyzed in this article include 1 Tim. 2.8-15; 1 Tim. 3.11; 1 Tim. 5.3-16; and Tit. 2.3-5. According to Fiorenza, the Pastorals are argued to be traditions on how to behave in the household of the church. Additionally, the church is believed to be the “new family” but is understood to be so in terms of the patriarchal household. Church leadership is based on the societal status distinctions of the patriarchal household, which include age and gender qualifications rather than on one’s spiritual giftedness. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad Pub., 1983), 288-89.
7. According to Hays, “Paul on the Relation between Men and Women,” 143-44. Paul’s concern for the conventional symbols of sexual difference demonstrated through clothing and hair styles is what is retained in this passage instead of a concern for leadership roles for women in the community. That is, how women should arrange their hair (or cover their heads) in a specific way while praying and prophesying. For further details on head covering and the Corinthian women see Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 227-28. Fiorenza argues that the Christian Corinthian women saw loose and unbound hair as a sign of their ecstatic worship and a mark of true prophetic behavior. Paul, on the other hand, sees building up of the community and intelligible missionary proclamation as the true signs of the Spirit. Thus, Fiorenza suggests that in this context, it is understandable why Paul insists that women should keep their hair bound up.
8. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker. Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012), 731-33. Other gender-critical issues that explored in this passage include gender performance during worship, gender division based on his theological interpretations of Genesis 1.27, 2.18-22, 3.16 and Genesis 6.1-4; the definition of femininity in terms of subordination and sexuality, which is kept under control through men’s dominance, and the definition of masculinity, which is described by being in God’s image and the dominance over women. Furthermore, positive theological determinations of femininity based on “all things are from God” is argued, but is still in the patriarchal framework of reference (11.11-12), and lastly some arguments from nature, general custom and the sense of what is proper and decent as a rhetorical strategy to defend his claims (11. 13-16).
9. For example, Paul states that woman is to be man’s glory, which means that her presence reflects honor on him and makes the man vulnerable to shame through her. Antionette Clark Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 120. Additionally, women are not suppose to shame themselves by being shaven, praying or prophesying with head uncovered, or by speaking in the church, according to 1 Corinthians 11.5-6 and 14.34. This also reflects common views of how a “woman should not expose her weakness and bring herself into shame.” Additionally, Paul understands that women can shame other women just by association and that women will shame the angels as well, based on his interpretation of Genesis 6. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets, 21. It should also be noted that the Corinthian women who were praying and prophesying with their heads uncovered do so to “signify that they are no longer determined by shame through sexual subordination but are determined by honor through the spirit as persons who have put on Christ, God’s image not male and female, and mediate God to each other.” Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets,” 183.
10. Karen Jo Torjesen, When Women Were Priests (New York: Harper Collins Pub., 1993), 144-45. In this chapter, Torjesen goes into more detail about how male virtues (prestige, honor, precedence) and female virtues (submission to authority, sexual exclusiveness, deference) are connected to their honor and shame, and how Paul wants these women prophets to publicly display the values of women’s subordination, thus reaffirming the function of femaleness to symbolize shame even though they were exercising authority.
11. In the gender-divided Greco-Roman world, a concern with boundaries often leads to attention on female deportment, as can be seen in this text. Paul’s teaching must also be understood as a response to behavior which takes place on the boundary between the private and public, the house-church, and the outside world. Furthermore, physical space plays a role in women’s behavior because women may have brought behavior that they practiced in their homes into the more public domain of the house-church. MacDonald, “Real Women,” 216.
12. Hays., Paul on the Relation, 145. According to Hays, this explanation makes sense of v.35 but overlooks v.34b, vv.34 and 35 as well as v.33b if it is read with v.34, where Paul would be asserting female silence and subordination as a rule for all communities, not just for a particular problem at Corinth.
13. Ibid., Paul on the Relation, 145. In addition, this interpretation would work since married women are subordinate to their husbands in the Greco-Roman world and thus would keep quiet. However, it means that the interpreter is assuming something in the text that isn’t actually there – that female prophets are unmarried – which is not found in 1 Corin. 1.2-16. It also overlooks the evidence for married women such as Prisca and Junia who did have leadership roles in the Pauline communities.
14. Ibid., Paul on the Relation, 145. This passage has been argued to be an interpolation – not written by Paul but added later by an editor or scribe – and has been found in ancient manuscripts at the end of the letter which could support this claim. However, there are no existing manuscripts that leave out vv. 34-35, which means that if these verses were added to the text, they were added at a very early stage. For further details for the authenticity of 1 Corin. 14.34-35 see Lee A. Johnson, “In Search of the Voice of Women in the Churches: Revisiting the Command to Silence Women in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35,” in Women in Biblical World: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2012), 137-41.
15. Ibid., Paul on the Relation, 145. This last suggestion is argued by Antionette Wire who rejects the interpolation theory and states that this passage is constructed to lead up to Paul’s silencing of women through his rhetorical strategies. She does leave open the idea on whether Paul did this on purpose or if it came about when he was trying to resolve this problem in Corinth. Furthermore, this argument suggests that 1 Corin. 14.34-35 is read as a “preliminary restriction on the dress and behavior of female prophets.”
16 For further discussion see Faith Kirkham Hawkins, “Does Paul Make a Difference?” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2004), 169-72.
17. It should be noted that Gal. 3.27-28, along with 1 Cor. 12.12-13 and Col. 3.9-11, are widely thought to represent a pre-Pauline baptismal confession developed from Genesis as a new creation story. They all share a common structure and are accepted traditions that Paul uses to validate his arguments. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets,” 123-25. Furthermore, Paul reexamines the Genesis story and argues that Jesus is an heir of Abraham and that he is the first seed. He then eliminates the genealogical, social, and political hierarchy and argues that the only thing that matters is origin from God the Father and the (non-biological) father Abraham. Schottroff and Wacker. Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 760. More specifically, Paul states “male and female” not “male or female,” alluding back to Gen. 1.27, and the word choice of “male and female” instead of “man and woman” has been examined by scholars. They have concluded that this wording means that not only the “social differences between men and women are involved but also the biological distinctions.” Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 211.
18. Gal. 3:28, all translations are from NRSV unless otherwise stated.
19. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets,” 126.
20. Paul supersedes Genesis 1:27 (“And God created humankind in his image… male and female he created them”) with the new creation in Christ, in which sexual difference is abolished. Hays, “Paul on the Relation,” 139.
21. Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 210-13. The Christian movement was not based on racial and national inheritance and kinship lines, like it was for Judaism, but rather on a new creation in Jesus Christ through baptism. This changed the role and status of women in the community since family and kinship did not determine the social structures of the Christian movement. Men and women in the Pauline Christian community are not defined by their sexual abilities or by their religious, cultural or social gender roles, but by their discipleship and empowerment from the Spirit. It should also be noted that in the ancient world not only were sexual and gender roles considered to be “grounded in biological nature but also cultural, racial, and social differences.” However, in the modern world sexual and gender roles are cultural-social properties, as argued in feminist studies, which are products of a patriarchal culture.
22. Fiorenza argues that gnostic writings advocate androgyny. Also, she mentions Wayne Meeks’ argument that this passage “evokes the myth of androgyny that was widespread in Hellenism, Judaism, and especially gnosticism.” Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 204-5. Take for example the second-century apocryphal writing The Acts of Paul and Thecla, where Thecla has to become “manly” in order to become known as missionary. Paul and Thecla also shows the power and authority of women missionaries at the beginning of the Christian movement but does so within the romantic style of the Hellenistic novel, meaning that although Thecla is a woman missionary she’s also represented as a preacher and missionary only in romantic disguise. In other words, Thecla, in the “genre of romantic love, is infatuated, follows the apostle Paul, and remains faithful to him.” Nevertheless, this story has been quoted as early as the second century as “justification of the right of women to teach and to baptize. “ Ibid., In Memory of Her, 173-74.
23. Ibid, In Memory of Her, 218.
24. The other Pauline passages that show women in leadership or important roles in his communities include Phoebe as a deacon (Romans 16:1-2), Prisca and Aquila, a wife and husband team (Romans 16:3-4; cf. Acts 18:18-28), women who are “workers of the Lord,” which include Mary, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, and Persis (Romans 16:1-16), and Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3). Hays, “Paul on the Relation,” 144. See also MacDonald, “Rereading Real Women,” 199-220. In her essay, she discusses the important roles women played in the Pauline communities which include some of the women listed above as well as Chloe (1 Corin. 16.8), Apphia (Phile. 2), and Junia (Rom. 16.7).
25. It is concluded by Hope Stephenson, along with other scholars she mentions in her article, that Junia is indeed the correct translation of the name, that it is feminine, and that “Junia was the first and only woman to be called an apostle in the New Testament.” In her article, she examines the linguistic data as well as analyzes the views of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers to argue that “Junia” is a woman and not a man known as “Junias,” that she belongs to the group Paul calls “outstanding among the apostles” instead of “well known to the apostles,” and she explores Paul’s definition of “apostle.” Hope Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” in Women in the Biblical World: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives, ed. Elizabeth A. McCabe (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009), 117- 34.
26. Rom. 16.7, NRSV.
27. The word “apostle” means “messenger, missionary preacher, or itinerant missionary,” and is used to describe church leaders as well. In Rom. 16.7, Paul means that Junia and Andronicus are itinerant missionaries, which is important, according to Stephenson, because God appoints apostles first to the Church. This also means that Junia and Andronicus worked as evangelists and planted new churches while traveling as apostles. Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 127-28.
28. See 2 Corin. 12.11-12, where he defends himself against those who call themselves “super-apostles,” and see also Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 128. Stephenson suggests that this shows that Paul does not use this term “apostle” carelessly “since he takes such great effort in maintaining the integrity of his own apostleship.”
29. However, Junia and Andronicus did not encounter the risen Christ. Stephenson agrees with other scholars (Peter Richardson) that this condition was met by the presence of the Spirit in missionary success, therefore, Junia and Andronicus fit the criteria to be considered an apostle. See Stephenson, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 128. Fiorenza also agrees with the claim that “Andronicus and Junia fulfill all the criteria of true apostleship,” and that they should be considered apostles. For further discussion on Andronicus and Junia as missionaries see Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 172.
30. Ibid, “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” 129. Only through the rise of patriarchy in the church did the acceptance of women apostles and leaders die out.
31. Even though the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles is debated, this article will refer to the authors of the Pastorals as “Author” and “he.”
32. Gail P.C. Streete, “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics? The Gynaikaria of the Pastoral Epistles,” in Women in the Biblical world: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives ed. Elizabeth A. McCabe (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009), 155.
33. For further discussion see ibid., “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics,” 156-62. The younger women do not abide by the social rules such as not staying put in their own “proper” households with their husbands, but instead they abstain from marriage altogether and visit other households or let other males into their own. Additionally, these women either don’t have households or their households lack a male “head” - widows.
34. Streete, “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics,” 156.
35. According to Scholer, the purpose of 1 Timothy is to combat the Ephesian heresy that Timothy faced. 1 Tim. 2.8-15 addresses a specific situation of false teachings in Ephesus that abused what was considered appropriate and honorable behavior for women. Some of these false teachings include a prohibition of marriage and an assault on what was considered appropriate models for women in that society, Furthermore, it has been suggested by some scholars that 1 Tim. 3.14-15 determines the character of 1 Tim. 2.8-15, or that 1 Tim. 3.14-15 should be seen as a “summary statement of the specific directions given for meeting a particular problem of heresy that Timothy was facing in Ephesus at that time.” Either way, the false teachings appealed to women and led them so astray that traditional values of marriage and the home was seriously violated. David M. Scholer, “1 Timothy 2.9-15 and the Place of Women in the Church’s Ministry,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 103-5. Additionally, the Author believed that the behavior of the Christians was under public scrutiny, which had the potential of creating major problems for the church. The Christians were a minority sect worshiping a different god than the rest of the contemporary society, which gave them good reason to be cautious of being too different than the Greco-Roman world. Jouette M. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation: The Calculus of Widows in 1 Timothy 5.3-16,” in in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 131. It can also be argued that the contemporary ideologies of the Greco-Roman world played a role in how the Author was creating a specific Christian identity that could fit into the contemporary society as well as fit into Christian values and beliefs.
36. More specifically, the Author bases his argument - that women should not have external adornment (ostentatious clothing or costly jewelry) during the worship service - on Hellenistic concepts of virtue (modesty, reserve, and respectability), which when applied to women by the Author, have a strong sexual connotation. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 836.
37. The Author prohibits women from teaching (having authority over men), which is connected to the same tradition as the command to silence women in 1 Corin. 14.34-35. According to Feminist Biblical Interpretation, the shift between these two texts makes clear that the Author’s concern of 1 Tim. is “sound teaching” and is directed against independent theological thinking and teaching by women, which is seen as overstepping their social and religious roles as women. Ibid., Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 837.
38. Scholer, “1 Timothy 2.9-15,” 98-121.
39. Scholer, “1 Timothy 2.9-15,” 106.
40. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 838.
41. For further discussion see ibid., Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 838.
42. Ibid., Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 835.
43. It should be noted that although women are holding positions within the church, these positions are restricted to teaching and leading of other women. Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 290.
44. Lilian Portefaix, “’Good Citizenship’ in the Household of God: Women’s Positions in the Pastorals Reconsidered in the Light of Roman Rule,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 155.
45. Fiorenza, In Her Memory, 291.
46. For a detailed discussion on the background of Paul and celibate women see Jouette M. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation: The Calculus of Widows in 1 Timothy 5.3-16,” in in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, ed. Amy-Jill Levine (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003), 123-31.
47. These widows were ascetic-charismatic women, who were usually financially independent, which gave them some authority within the community and the public arena, and the Author wants them to follow the values and conform to the norms of the household code and the private household tasks designated for women. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 840.
48. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation,” 141-45. One way the Author does this is by establishing an age limit that reduced the number of widows on the list. The church would honor the elderly women known for their piety as mistresses of Christian households, and in doing so it would honor the value system of Greco-Roman society.
49. Ibid., “Limits and Differentiation,” 146.
50. This restrictive function includes teaching the younger women to submit to their husbands and to fulfill the obligations that go with their role of wife, mother and manager of the household. Even though these women are given instruction to teach, it is restricted to the instruction of other women, since subordinate members of the household must subject themselves to the head of the house. Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 839.
51. This is also true for other groups in ancient society. According to MacDonald, there are comparative studies that show that the appearance of women in leadership roles should not be seen as unique in the ancient world. Rather, early Christian women acted in ways that were in line with the leadership of women in other communities in the Greco-Roman world. For further details see MacDonald, Women in Christian Origins, 199-220.
52. Although these women typically came from the more privileged ranks of the church – women with wealth and independence who could travel, host a church at their homes, or serve as benefactors. Even these wealthy women were not considered particularly distinct in the Greco-Roman world. Bassler, “Limits and Differentiation,” 124.
53. Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 206.
54. Ibid, In Memory of Her, 206.
Annotated Bibliography
Bassler, Jouette M. “Limits and Differentiation: The Calculus of Widows in 1 Timothy 5.3-16,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 122-46. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003.
Bassler’s essay works to reconstruct the nature of the widow’s circle, the motivations of those who participated in it, and the purpose of the restrictions imposed on the widows in 1 Tim. 5.3-16. He gives some background information on Paul and the celibate women, who they are, how they fit into the community, etc., and then discusses aspects of the Pastoral Epistles that discuss the background information of the text for the reader. Next, Bassler dives into a discussion about the unity of this passage as well as the widow’s circle and the Author’s response to restricting the circle.
Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Co., 1983.
Fiorenza’s book provides a thorough examination of women in the New Testament by reconstructing early Christian history as women’s history in order not only to restore women’s stories in early Christian history but also to reclaim this history as the history of women and men. She approaches the text from a feminist biblical method by exploring New Testament texts as well as going beyond the limits of the NT canon to approach a historical-critical reconstruction of women in early Christianity. Furthermore, she gives some background information to the Pastorals and gives some critical commentary to the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline texts that are related to women and gender.
Hawkins, Faith Kirkham. “Does Paul Make a Difference?” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 169-82. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2004.
In her essay, Hawkins observes Paul’s remarks on specific groups and how these groups are interrelated by looking at different particularities. Through careful assessment of Paul’s language and the structure of his argument, she argues that Paul responds to the differences in his community by locating the ‘weak’ and ‘those with knowledge’ within ‘the body of Christ.’ She provides important information on the background information for the Pastoral Epistles and strongly argues that Paul’s texts must be well examined in order to appropriately understand his views on women and gender. Lastly, this essay provides insights on the authentic Pauline texts that deal with women and gender roles.
Hays, Richard B. “Paul on the Relation between Men and Women,” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 137-47. Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 2004.
In Hay’s essay, he analyzes 1 Corinthians 11.3-16 and 14.34-35 and looks at the roles that women actually played in the social organization and worship life of the Pauline Christian communities. He looks at Galatians 3.28 as well and compares the two texts, which contradict each other, in order to better understand Paul’s views toward women. Additionally, he provides four different explanations of 1 Corinthians 14.34-35 that have been proposed by scholars and agrees with the interpolation interpretation. He concludes that Paul believes that men and women are equal in Christ but that equality cannot yet take away all the distinctions between men and women.
Johnson, Lee A. “In search of the voice of women in the churches: revisiting the command to silence women 1 Corinthians 14:34-35” in Women in the biblical world: a survey of Old and New Testament perspectives, edited by Elizabeth A. McCabe, 135-154. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2009.
Johnson’s essay discusses the issues that bring the authenticity of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 into question as well as summarizes and analyzes the historic interpretations of this passage. She concludes that women in the Pauline communities did have leadership roles and were called by the same titles as men, and relates this to Galatians 3.28. Additionally, the egalitarian vision of the early Pauline community was replaced by a more socially conservative model, in which women were suppose to be silent during worship services and were subordinate to the male leadership and authority.
MacDonald, Margaret Y. “Rereading Paul: Early Interpreters of Paul on Women and Gender,” in Women and Christian Origins, edited by Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo, 236-53. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
MacDonald explores several forms of Pauline traditions and suggests that women in these communities had some influence and leadership even though it is not the focus of the author. She starts with Acts and moves to Lydia and other women at Philippi, Priscilla, Colossians and Ephesians, the Pastoral Epistles, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and concludes that there are passages that silence women and circumvent their activities but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t passages that show influential women in power, as she shows in her examinations of early Christian women.
MacDonald, Margaret Y. “Rereading Real Women through the Undisputed Letter of Paul,” in Women and Christian Origins, edited by Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo, 199-220. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
MacDonald aims to reconstruct the lives of all of the named women in Paul’s undisputed Epistles, as well as analyzing Paul’s pronouncements on sexuality and gender where he refers to women’s activities (e.g., 1 Corin. 11.2-16 and 14.33b-36). The focus of this essay is to understand what roles women actually had in the Pauline communities, and in doing so, MacDonald leaves aside many complex issues raised by Paul’s position. She works to see through Paul’s teachings on how women should behave in his communities to find out how they actually behaved. She concludes that women were visible in leadership roles in the Pauline communities and that this isn’t unique to this specific group but rather that there are comparative studies that show women in leadership roles in other communities in the Greco-Roman world.
Portefaix, Lilian. “’Good Citizenship’ in the Household of God: Women’s Positions in the Pastorals Reconsidered in the Light of Roman Rule,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 147-58. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003.
Portefaix argues in her essay that the heretical teachers, who encouraged the writing of First Timothy, cannot be isolated from the family politics of the Greco-Roman world. She discusses the political climate in the Empire drawing on literature of the time, and the moral climate by looking at the literary sources as a background for the teaching on Christian women while examining the Augustus family model of ancient times. Additionally, she argues that Christian women were directed in the Pastoral Epistles to take on the virtues of the ideal Roman woman (submissiveness and marriage).
Scholer, David M. “1 Timothy 2.9-15 and the Place of Women in the Church’s Ministry,” in A Feminist Companion to the Deutero-Pauline Epistles, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 98-121. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2003.
Scholer provides exegetical and hermeneutical considerations on 1 Tim. 2.9-15 in order to appropriately interpret this Deutero-Pauline text and to understand the place of women within the church. He concludes that this passage should be understood as a unified paragraph on the place of women in the church in Ephesus, and that it was limited to a particular situation of false teaching. Furthermore, he adds that this passage has to be placed in the context of all other Pauline data on the participation of women in ministry, and that one should be careful in interpreting this passage because of its biblical authority for contemporary readers.
Schottroff, Luise and Marie-Theres Wacker. Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2012.
The Feminist Biblical Interpretation brings to light women and women’s issues as well as other gender-critical particularities that have been overlooked in previous commentaries. The authors look to a historical-critical method to critique androcentric interpretations of the biblical texts. This is an important book to use because it approaches the biblical texts with new insights and observations that have been previously overlooked or interpreted separately from the text as a whole. For example, the authors shed new light on the Pastoral Epistles and their view of how women and men relate to one another. They also work to reconstruct the history of women in the early church.
Stephenson, Hope. “Junia: Woman and Apostle,” in Women in the biblical world: a survey of Old and New Testament perspectives, edited by Elizabeth A. McCabe, 117-134. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2009.
In her essay, Stephenson examines the linguistic data as well as analyzes the views of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers to argue that “Junia” is a woman and not a man known as “Junias,” that she belongs to the group Paul calls “outstanding among the apostles” instead of “well known to the apostles,” and she explores Paul’s definition of “apostle.” Moreover, she examines this text from a feminist biblical perspective in order to overcome the androcentric nature of the biblical text and to explore the historical context in order to reconstruct the real stories of women in early Christianity. By examining Junia the Apostle in Romans 16.7, it can be concluded that there were male and female leaders in the early church.
Streete, Gail P.C. “Bad Girls and Good Ascetics? The Gynaikaria of the Pastoral Epistles,” in Women in the Biblical world: A Survey of Old and New Testament Perspectives, edited by Elizabeth A. McCabe, 155-64. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009.
Streete analyzes the Gynaikaria of the Pastoral Epistles and looks at the roles they played within the community and gives some background information to these Epistles. He examines the language of the text and concludes that the Pastorals, which he compares to non canonical texts such as the Acts of Paul and Thecla, understand sexual gratification as included within heterosexual marriage, with the intent of reproducing individual households and thus building up the community. Furthermore, Streete argues that the Pastorals insist that women need direction from rational men to direct them in the correct behavior.
Wire, Antionette Clark. The Corinthian Women Prophets. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.
In her book, Wire focuses on reconstructing the roles, behavior and positions of the women prophets in the society and church of Corinth, as well as their values and theology. She focuses on the rhetoric of the texts explored rather than describing the Corinthians in order to understand women’s conduct, self-understanding and theology, as well as the social status of the Corinthian women. This text provided extensive background information to the Pauline communities, especially the Corinth community, including information on the honor and shame systems of value and the public and private spheres of the Greco-Roman world.