Paul's Argumentative Analysis

In traditional western discussion of the apostle Paul – and more specifically his letters to the church in Corinth – the viewpoint that he directly led to a discrimination of women in Christianity often arises. While proponents of this line of thinking can certainly make a convincing argument, when adding historical context into the conversation, the issue becomes less black and white. The passages that traditionally dominate discourse on this topic typically include Paul’s argument for a woman’s veil, her place in a household, and her rights in a place of worship. At first glace these issues certainly lean heavily against Paul. However, applying crucial components into the understanding of the apostle’s writing begin to reveal him as somewhat …show more content…
Among Jewish traditions there were strict requirements prohibiting nakedness when praying to God, particularly if one was in a place of worship. Troy W. Martin eloquently argues that, “Informed by this tradition, Paul appropriately instructs women in the service of God to cover their hair since it is part of the female genitalia. According to Paul's argument, women may pray or prophesy in public worship along with men but only when both are decently attired”. In this way Paul may appear to be setting aside certain requirements for women than men need not follow, while in actuality he is simply attempting to provide a standard of dress that can be applied to both genders. This idea is further evidenced by a latter part of the passage, which states “Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is degrading to him” in which it can be determined that the degrading nature of long hair for males is due to the fact that it would imply that he has an excess supply of semen stored in his head since he has not been sexually active with his …show more content…
Veils should not be seen as some additional garment intended to differentiate men from women, but rather a requirement for mutual covering of reproductive organs for both. Paul’s view on the rights of each party in a marriage should be encouraging to proponents of gender equality as well, since the idea that each member has the same reproductive rights is certainly a step in the right direction. At first glance there does appear to be a fault in this line of reasoning when one arrives at the issue of a woman’s ability to speak in a place of worship. Even this contradiction is solved, though, as a number of theological scholars believe that this specific section did not accurately represent Paul’s true beliefs on the subject. All of these points combine to provide a comprehensive idea that Paul actually intended to provide gender equality in his writing, instead of the long held belief that he began a history of oppression of women by the