Women’s Education And Public Speech In Antiquity -- By: Craig S. Keener

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 50:4 (Dec 2007)
Article: Women’s Education And Public Speech In Antiquity
Author: Craig S. Keener


Women’s Education And Public Speech In Antiquity

Craig Keener

Craig Keener is professor of New Testament at Palmer Theological Seminary, 6 Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA 19096–3495.

Were women on average less educated in antiquity than men? Did they enjoy less opportunity, under normal circumstances, for public speech than men did? After noting the relevance of this question for one line of egalitarian interpretation of Paul, I will examine some exceptions to this general rule, philosophic and other ancient intellectual perspectives, the presence of some women in advanced education, women in Jewish education, and women speaking in public.

I will conclude that in fact women on average were less educated than men and in particular lacked much access to public speaking roles. An egalitarian conclusion need not follow automatically from such very general premises, but neither should the egalitarian case be dismissed on the specific basis of a denial of the likelihood of these premises. Whether or not one adopts the egalitarian conclusion sometimes drawn from the ancient evidence, the ancient evidence itself need not be in question.

I. The Relevance Of The Question

Evangelical scholars in good conscience come to differing conclusions on the notorious “gender” passages in Paul, and even those who share similar conclusions may not share all the approaches of their colleagues.1 (Egalitarians also differ in terms of the circles through which they were introduced to the egalitarian position.)2 Nevertheless, one can summarize a general pattern in approaches to background in the debate.

As a rule, egalitarians appeal to the cultural setting of the passages to limit their fullest application to a particular cultural setting. Many egalitarians share this hermeneutical approach, even though not all egalitarians reconstruct the setting in the same manner.

As a rule, complementarian scholars accept the value of cultural or situational background for understanding texts yet do not view the

backgrounds cited by egalitarians as sufficient to overturn what they view as a consistent and clearly articulated teaching in 1 Tim 2:11–12 and/or 1 Cor 14:34–35.3 Some also view some of the backgrounds cited by egalitarians as incorrect (an assessment some egalitarians would certainly share regarding some other egalitarians’ proposed background...

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