Becky Legatt J.B.F. Miller Adv. Bible: Paul Women in Antiquity and the Pauline Corpus There is a controversy in the church about the role of women. Looking through the Bible, we see numerous references to women and their roles in the early Christian church. The Pauline Corpus has many reference about women. Some people find Paul s letters to be offensive toward women. However, if you look at the cultural background and look a deeper into the letters, you will find that Paul was not against women. To understand Paul we must look at women in his culture and their roles. Women in the first century were treated differently than women today. Men were the head of the households and made all decision for that family. Author John Chrysostom, in Ross Kraemer s sourcebook state, If you have a servant or if you have a wife, be very careful to keep them at home (60). Men were afraid of what might happen if women were in control. In Kraemer s book, the story of The Rites of the First Bacchic Worshipers describes what men thought women would do if they were left alone to worship Bacchic. The story describes women leaving their young at home, so the women can go nurse wild animals, then the women were tearing cows apart and using the cows bones to kill the men that were spying on them (12-14). The story is clearly a fantasy. However, it does show what men thought could happen if women were in control of worship. Distinction between men and women happened in the church as well. Jewish women did have the right to worship and go to the temple, but restrictions were in place for when and how women could worship. A writing by Philo entitled Jewish Women in Alexandrian Public Life in Kraemer s book states, She should not shew herself off like a vagrant in the streets before the Legatt 1
eyes of other men, except when she has to go to the temple, and even then she should take pains to go, not when the market is full, but when most people have gone home (29). We also see a reference to women in the Temple, written by Josephus, which describes the women s court. The writing describes how the women had a different court than the men. The women were not allowed in the inner courts of the men (31). Understanding women s role in society is key to understanding Paul and his writing on women. Much of Paul s writing has this element of cultural embeddedness in his letters. Cultural embeddedness is where his writing reflects what is going on in the culture. We will not wholly understand the meaning of what Paul was saying unless we understand the cultural embeddedness involved. When reading Paul s letters we must keep in mind the elements of cultural embeddedness that might be present. Women are refer to many times in Paul s letters however; our focus here will be on the scriptures of 1 Cor. 7, 11, 14:34-35, Gal. 3:28, Rom. 16, Eph. 5, Col 3, 1 Tim 2. One would hope to find a common message about women in Paul s writing however, as you look through these scriptures you can see a distinct contrast. In Romans and Galatians, we see a positive view of women. Paul says that there are no difference of male and female in Christ (Gal. 3:28). In Romans, Paul mentions a number of women that he has worked with, Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junias,... They are outstanding among the apostles Greet Tyrphena and Tryposa, those women who work hard in the Lord, (Rom 16:6-16). He even equates some to outstanding apostles. Paul considered himself to be an apostle because he had a, revelation from Jesus Christ, (Gal 1:12b). Therefore, the women he equates to apostle had have an experience with Jesus. As we look at 1 Timothy and Ephesians, we see a negative attitude towards women. Paul Legatt 2
tells the women to be submissive to men (Eph 5, Col 3), to be silent and not teach, and to dress modestly (1 Tim. 2). None of this is consistent with what Paul wrote in Romans or Galatians. Much of this difference has to do with the disputed and undisputed letters of Paul. Romans and Galatians are considered undisputed letters. That means that most scholars believe that Paul did indeed write them. 1 Timothy, Ephesians and Colossians are considered disputed letters because scholars do not believe that Paul actually wrote the letters. They believe that someone else wrote the letters using Paul as a pen name. One way to understand the difference perspectives is to look at the differences in the disputed and undisputed letters. Although that theory does hold true to most of Paul s letters, we do have one letter that does not seem to fit the mold. 1 Corinthians is an undisputed letter, but if you read 1 Cor. 14:34-35 you see a negative attitude towards women. 1 Cor. 14:34-35 tells women to be silent and be in submission just like in 1 Timothy. However, if you look at verse 33 in 1 Cor. 14 you see Paul writing For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, then all of a sudden you get a reprimand of women. These two verses do not seem to flow like a normal letter would. To bring 1 Corinthians in line with what some of the disputed letters say about women, scholars believe 1 Cor. 14:34-35 was added later by an editor. There are scholars at both ends of the spectrum. Some say Paul is in for women, some say Paul is against women, and many fall in between. Scroggs would classify Paul as for women. In 1 Corinthians, where we have most of our disputes about women, Scroggs says, 1 Corinthians 7:1 was probably not Paul s view but a slogan of the Corinthian church. And even if it was Paul s view, it expresses his response to an emergency rather than his disdain for women, (Roetzel 182). Scroggs is also concerned with all the times when Paul mentions that men and women are equal, and all the women that are leaders in churches. He mentions that in 1 Legatt 3
Corinthians where Paul is ranking God, Christ, man, woman, Paul is not doing it to say women are inferior to men, but rather he is trying to say women are different than men (Roetzel 183). Elaine Pagels finds that Scroggs makes many good points about Paul and women. Pagels is not convinced with the entirety of Scroggs argument. Pagels disagrees with the argument of saying Paul is just differentiating women from men in1 Corinthians 11:2-16. Pagels states, Paul views, certain incidents or practices in the Corinthian community--provoked by the presence of unveiled women believers--to be disorderly or even scandalous, and that by appealing to the primeval order, he hopes to restrict women s activity and thus restore order (Roetzel 183). Pagels believes that Paul did think the activities in the Corinthian church were not befitting for women at that time. Paul did not mean this to be a universal statement for all women. Another verse that many scholars have researched is Galatians 3:28 where Paul says that in Christ there is no longer male and female. Fiorenza and Boyarin both believe that this verse is a pivotal text in understanding Pauline Theology on women. However, they all have different views on what it means. Fiorenza struggles with this verse because of all the contradictions that Paul makes in other letters. One contradiction is in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, where Paul silences the women and reaffirms hierarchical structures. Therefore, Fiorenza comes to the conclusion that, even in the equality in Christ promised in baptism there was an embedded inequality (Roetzel 185). Boyarin thinks Paul had a different objective in view when writing Galatians 3:28. Boyarin does not believe that 1 Corinthians and Galatians challenge each other at all. In fact, he states, that they are complementary, not contradictory. Boyarin argues, Galatians contains a theology of the spirit, and 1 Corinthians a theology of the body, Where in the spirit there is no hierarchy, in the body there is a hierarchy (Roetzel 186). Legatt 4
On the other end of the Pauline spectrum we get two scholars, Castelli and Wire, who believe Paul was against women. Castelli states, Paul emphasizes mimesis (imitation) as a artifice of power to control disruptive elements in the churches, (Roetzel 187). In doing this, Paul protected his own position of authority and suppresses other voices such as women. Castelli notes that Paul is saying there is my gospel or no gospel at all. For the sake of unity, all other accounts of truth were suppressed. Wire argues that Paul distrust women prophets and therefore silence them in all of 1 Corinthians. Wire states, Paul was disturbed by their women s wisdom theology that issued in spirit possession and charismatic speech, and he was bothered by their sense of freedom that led them to eat idol meat, to participate in free table fellowship with men, and to reject marriage for a celibate lifestyle, (Roetzel 187). This disturbance led Paul to try to limit and restrict women s influence, and encourage them to marry in order to silence them. There are many different views on how women should act within the church. As we have seen, Paul wrote several times about women in the church. When we look at Paul and his view on women, we need to remember the cultural embeddedness of his writing. We need to remember that women were subject to their husbands, had little independence, and were not allowed to worship with men. In the undisputed letters, Paul treats women as equals. In Romans 16, he mentions many women that he worked with in the ministry and calling some of them apostles. In the disputed letters, Paul tells women to be subjected to men, to be silence in the churches, and to dress modestly. The undisputed letters and the disputed letters clearly contradict each other. Looking at what scholars have to say about women and Paul, we get Scroggs and Pagels on one end of the spectrum, Castelli and Wire on the other, and Fiorenza and Boyarin in the middle. There is no right or wrong answer to what Paul means when he writes Legatt 5
about women. As Christians, we need to look at the evidence and make an educated decision on what the letters of Paul and the role of women mean to us today. Legatt 6
Bibliography Kraemer, Ross. Maenads Martyrs Matrons Monastics. Fortress Press Philadelphia: 1988. pgs 11-60. Roetzel, Calvin. The Letters of Paul Conversations in Context. Westminster John Knox Press London: 1998. pgs 182-189. Legatt 7