Relativizing Paul -- By: Steven M. Baugh

Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 05:1 (Summer 2000)
Article: Relativizing Paul
Author: Steven M. Baugh


Relativizing Paul

S. M. Baugh

Cult Prostitution And Feminist Interpretation Of 1 Timothy 2

Though not every first-century boulevard was a Bourbon Street or a Las Vegas strip, various ancient literary and archaeological sources mention prostitution. Encounters with prostitutes (Greek hetairai) at dinner parties or in public brothels were not unusual. Even more common was the sexual exploitation of slave girls in the households by their masters. Prostitution was undeniably a part of ancient life.

Just because this phenomenon existed does not necessarily make it a very edifying subject to study. But as a New Testament professor whose training is in classics and ancient history, particularly in the social history and cultures of the Pauline world, it is part of a larger, specialized discipline in which I continue to read and research.1 Hence, when I read about an interpretation of a New Testament passage that relies heavily on the historical circumstances of the New Testament author or recipients, it piques my interest. But, un-fortunately, there are times when interpretations are based on a particularly faulty understanding of the historical background. Such is the case with “cult prostitution” and 1 Timothy 2:9–15 in some writers who defend a feminist reading of this text.

This is when arguments over details of history move beyond mere arcane points of fact among ancient historians into issues related to the life of the Church. Feminist interpreters of the Bible take this as a relativized command of Paul’s based on the special circumstances of the women of Ephesus—who were supposedly involved in cult prostitution—and hence, no longer applicable in the Church today.

For this reason, I would like to present here a summary of my findings—or, more accurately, the absence of my findings—on cult prostitution in the first-century world of Paul (the original article in which these findings were presented in great detail is “Cult Prostitution in New Testament Ephesus: A Reappraisal,” JETS 42/3 (1999):443-60).2 If there is no evidence of cult prostitution in Ephesus, then feminist historical analysis is wrong and may not be used to substantiate their analysis of Paul’s command to women in 1 Timothy 2:12.

Special Circumstances at Ephesus?

The argument of these writers is quite simple. Paul only forbids Ephesian women from engaging in an ordained teaching and ruling ministry. Paul does this, they say, because of special circumstances at Ephesus where the le...

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