Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 37:3 (Summer 2023)
Article: Authority To Cover Her Head: The Liberating Message Of 1 Corinthians 11:3–16
Author: Juliann Bullock

PP 37:3 (Summer 2023) p. 3

Authority To Cover Her Head: The Liberating Message Of 1 Corinthians 11:3–16

Juliann Bullock

Juliann Bullock holds a BA in linguistics/biblical studies from Geneva College and is currently pursuing an Mdiv at Portland Seminary (US). She worked as a missionary in Papua New Guinea for fifteen years and now lives on Whidbey Island (WA) with her husband and five children where she mothers, pastors, and writes. She is the author of Mothers as the Image of God (2022).

So much has been written about 1 Cor 11:3–16 and the topic of head coverings that it may seem there surely could be nothing new to say. Unfortunately, our modern cultural contexts are so far removed from the context of Paul’s original audience that our default understanding of this passage is likely quite different from the understanding of the first-century Corinthians. Many interpreters have read this chapter as an argument for male authority. These interpreters understand “the man is the head of a woman” (1 Cor 11:3) to mean that men should have authority over women, or at least over their own wives. They also tend to understand v. 10 as a command for women to cover their heads to show that they are under male authority.

However, to understand what Paul was trying to communicate, we need to understand some of the cultural context that would have been readily available to the Corinthian church. This article examines 1 Cor 11:3–16 within the context of the cultural practice of head covering in first-century Corinth, Paul’s teaching in the rest of 1 Corinthians (particularly about male/female relationships), and the meaning of the Greek word kephalē (“head”). Read within the context of that information, 1 Cor 11:3–16 becomes a liberating passage for women, giving them authority over their own heads and freedom from the legal control of men within the context of the church body. Rather than placing women in subordination to men, this passage elevates the status of women and grants them a place of honor and privilege within the body of Christ.

Context For 1 Corinthians 11:3–16

Cultural Background On Head Coverings

It is first necessary to understand the cultural practice of head covering in Corinth at the time Paul was writing.1 A woman’s covered head was a signal that she was under the protection of an upper-class husband or father and was therefore not sexually available.