By chhotebhai
Christian women could feel threatened by a recent article “Why Women Wear Veils in Church” written by one Susanna Spencer. It appeared in a pious journal published by a renowned pilgrim center for hopeless cases. It was hopelessly off the mark, as I shall presently expound.
Spencer claims that Christian women always covered their heads in Church. They sometimes wore hats, scarves or stylish headbands. The article quotes extensively from 1 Cor 11:2-15 in support of her above contention. She further claims that “veiling is a statement against modernity and its lies.” A veil accentuates the natural beauty of a woman when she dresses up for church.
She claims that the 1917 Code of Canon Law provided for women to cover their heads, and the opposite for men. The 1983 Code has scrapped the provision for women but retained that for men. I have not come across any such provision in the New Code of Canon Law, but would be happy to stand corrected. Before addressing Spencer’s claims let us first see what the quoted text has to say.
Paul begins by congratulating the Corinthians for maintaining the traditions that he had passed on to them (v2). The head of a woman is a man (v3). If a man prays with his head covered it is a disrespect of his head (v4). In contrast if a woman’s head is uncovered it is disrespect for her head (v5). If her head is uncovered it is like having her hair shaved off (v5), in which case her hair should be cut (v6). It is improper for a man to cover his head as he is the image of God (v8). A woman should cover her head as a sign of the man’s authority over her (v10).
After these rather misogynistic statements (sounds like Donald Trump) Paul modifies them to say that both men and women are inter-dependent and come from God (v11-12). He leaves it to them to decide for themselves (v13). He then relapses into saying that nature teaches that if a man has long hair it is a disgrace (v14). He finally admits that “If anyone wants to be contentious I say that we have no such custom, nor do any of the churches of God” (v16).
This last disclaimer by Paul sounds like something that he said earlier in the same letter to the Corinthians when talking of marriage, celibacy and sexual abstinence in marriage, when he admits that “These instructions are my own, not the Lord’s” (1 Cor 7:12). His personal opinion and natural ideas (not the Lord’s teaching) were influenced by his erroneous belief in an imminent end of the world – “the time has become limited” (1 Cor 7:29). His repeated reticence could indicate that he sensed that he was walking on thin ice.
Let us first examine Paul’s statements, as Spencer’s are largely based on his. For this I have drawn from the Jerome Biblical Commentary (JBC), a leading reference book in Catholic seminaries.
It distinguishes between an epistle (that is for universal consumption and systemic teaching) and a letter (that is more personal, disjointed and often written in haste). 1 Cor is therefore classified as a hurriedly written personal letter that cannot be termed systemic teaching. The JBC further explains that in the Greek tradition men with long tresses and women with short hair were considered transgenders or homosexuals and abhorred by society.
So Paul was in fact imposing a local social more, which had no relevance outside its specific social context and timeline. The JBC adds that kephale the Greek word for head was also used for “source,” and the reference here is to the source of man and woman in the Genesis account of creation, and does not connote either authority or superiority. We need solid exegesis before quoting scripture out of context thereby drawing erroneous conclusions.
I shall now take recourse to another authentic source, the Dictionary of the Bible (D.O.B.) by Rev John McKenzie SJ, to unveil the “veil.” It says that the wearing of a veil by women is an ancient, widespread but diversified custom, but it was not customary among the Israelites. It was worn by women at the time of consummation of a marriage and during sexual intercourse. In Middle Assyrian law women wore a veil. Among the Canaanites, nude female figures had a veil, indicative again of sexual intercourse.
“Paul’s precept that a woman should wear a veil during worship is obscure … he tried to introduce customs of Oriental decorum as practiced in his own city of Tarsus, into Corinth.” From the above it is apparent that women wearing a veil in worship was neither Judaic, Christian or even sacred. To the contrary it was largely associated with sex!
As for hair and beards, the D.O.B. says that the Semitic peoples kept full length beards, whereas the Romans and Greeks were clean shaven. The Egyptians wore a square cut goatee artificial beard. For the Jews it was an indignity to have their heads shaved or plucked. Egyptian artists portrayed the people of Canaan sporting long hair and beards. In the Old Testament it was a dishonor to cut the beard and hair (cf 2 Sam 10:4), other than as a sign of mourning. (cf Is 15:2). Here in India too, male Hindus have themselves tonsured when a relative dies.
Now let me revert to Spencer. She avers that the Church veils things that are sacred, like the tabernacle and chalice. There is also the implication that after Moses met God on the mountain, his face was veiled (cf ex 34:29-35). We conveniently forget that he was first instructed to remove his footwear. Why don’t we follow this biblical precept when entering a place of worship? Why are we selective and target women?
The D.O.B. explains that “the veil masked the face of the prophet so that his own person was concealed when he spoke the word of Yahweh in the person of Yahweh.” By that standard our clergymen, beginning with the Pope, should enter the church barefoot, with their faces veiled! That would be fun to watch.
On a more serious note, after the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, the veil of secrecy is off. We should not mistake secrecy for sacredness. Finally we need to recall that when Jesus died on the cross the veil in the Temple was rent (cf Mat 27:51). This was symbolic of unrestricted access to the Divine, for Jesus is indeed the way, the truth and the life (cf Jn 14:6).
Even our dear Paul acknowledges in what is actually his fourth letter to the Corinthians that “We use boldness of speech unlike Moses who put a veil over his face … the veil is taken away in Christ” (2 Cor 3:14). We are further exhorted to “enter the presence behind the veil” (Heb 6:19).
I will sign off from Paul with another of his contentious exhortations, “Slaves obey your masters” (Col 3:22). Here again this may have been said in a given context, but certainly not tenable today. My purpose is not to belittle Paul or the sacred scriptures, but simply to remind gullible readers to not be taken in by false prophets masquerading their personal opinions as Gospel truth.
As an Indian, living in a multi-cultural milieu, I would also like to examine the cultural angle, apart from the scriptural one. Spencer says that women dress up for church with hats, scarves and headbands. This is obviously western/ European culture, alien to India, or Asia and Africa for that matter. I recall my childhood when there were still a lot of Europeans and westernized Indians around. Mass was a veritable fashion parade, with the headgear being anything but sacred. I have no intention of judging what women wear on their heads, for me what is more important is what is in their heads.
In India I see Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Parsis worshipping. All of them, both male and female, cover their heads and remove their footwear. This is part of our composite culture. When I visited Jerusalem in 1980 I noticed that orthodox Jews had long hair in ringlets. Jews also wear skull caps while worshipping, as do our bishops. The latter also wear grotesque miters that make them look like circus performers.
Images from the Sudarium of Oviedo in Spain, believed to be the burial face cloth of Jesus, and the Shroud of Turin, both of which have identical AB+ve blood stains, indicate that Jesus himself had shoulder length hair and was bearded (common in all sacred imagery). Jesus belonged to a Semitic race, just like the Arabs (sons of Abraham).
So it is possible that dear St Paul was trying to bridge the cultural gap between Judaic and Hellenistic customs when he wrote to the Corinthians about their hair and decorum in worship. Unfortunately he ended up creating more confusion than clarity.
I’ll end this with a reference to the last book of the Bible – Revelation. It is also called the Apocalypse derived from the Greek word apokalypsis, which literally means the lifting of the veil to reveal something. This is the most misunderstood and misquoted book of the Bible. I believe in divine revelation, but not in apocalyptic fear or veiled threats.
(The writer is a layman without any training in theology or exegesis. He willingly accepts that if there is any error in this presentation he is fully responsible for the same.)