“Men and Women in Christ”, by Andrew Bartlett, is an excellent book. Here is a summary of some of the key arguments re. 1 Corinthians 11:
Firstly, Bartlett argues that there is no intrinsic hierarchy of authority for Christians. The submission of which Paul writes is not unilateral but voluntary in line with the principles of discipleship.
Secondly, Bartlett has a really interestingly different and scholarly reading of 1 Cor 11. Here is the briefest précis:
- “Head” (v3) does not denote power or authority but source and it is used in an authority neutral way.
- “Veil” is not in the text.
- The whole thing is about hair and contextual to 1st c Corinth. Women wearing their hair down connoted sexual availability/promiscuity. Paul didn’t write about covering it. They did not have to cover it but they had to wear it up in accordance with the decorum of the time.
- Men wearing their hair long had homosexual prostitution connotations. Nor were they to wear it in a feminine style, ie up as a “wrap” or covering. All this was issues of appropriate decorum.
- He says there is nothing there about hierarchy or power. Headship is about source and relates to v1-2.
So, from 1Cor 11, no “head covering”, no re-enactment of “glory”, no implied hierarchy subjugating women. His argument is detailed and two chapters long. I know my summary is inadequate.
Moving on, here is a very brief summary of Bartlett's three chapters (80+ pages) on 1Tim 2:8-15:
Firstly, he says it is general advice, not specific to congregational assembly.
Secondly, it is deeply, specifically contextual to the occult culture of Ephesus and inappropriate and apostate behaviour in the congregation, specifically at this time by a group of wealthy, young, idle widows. Bartlett writes: “The nature of Paul’s concern is: ‘I am not permitting a woman false teacher...lacking decency and self-control, to teach and overpower a man: she is to be quiet and reverent and learn how to behave in accordance with the truth, in full submission to God’” (p285).
Thirdly, Bartlett provides a really interesting language study in relation to specific words with occultist connotations. Of real interest here is “authority”, only used once in the Bible, rare in first century and which he translates as “overpower”.
Fourthly, he says the reference to Adam and Eve is an example and not a principle. Bartlett believes that Paul uses them to illustrate what is happening in Ephesus and not to enunciate a principle for all times and circumstances.
Fifthly, he is wonderful on this pronoun confusion: “Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”. The “she” he says is Eve and relates to her seed, the Messiah. The “they” are the apostate women of Ephesus who can also be saved if they submit to Christ. This, he says, is the clincher for the specific context argument.
Lastly, he concludes that “1Timothy 2 does not justify a general ban on teaching by women in the church, or on the exercise of authority by women in the church” (p286).
For more information on the book, and how to order, click here.
