dishonors her head Indicates that a woman dishonors a man when she takes on the appearance of a man.

11:6 to have her head shorn or shaved In Paul’s day, a woman with an uncovered head may have been considered sexually revealing and thus a distraction to men in the context of worship. Paul therefore recommends that women should wear head coverings to avoid such issues

But the anxiety may be related to other factors as well. Fiorenza (1983: 227), for example, points to a range of evidence showing Greek women in the mystery cults engaging in acts of worship with their heads uncovered or their hair hanging loose or both: “Such a sight of disheveled hair would be quite common in the ecstatic worship of oriental divinities.… Disheveled hair and head thrown back were typical for the maenads in the cult of Dionysos, in that of Cybele, the Pythia at Delphi, the Sibyl, and unbound hair was necessary for a woman to produce an effective magical incantation.… Flowing and unbound hair was also found in the Isis cult, which had a major center in Corinth.” Against this background, Paul may be concerned that the gatherings of the Corinthians are becoming indistinguishable from those of pagan idolaters. Whatever the precise details (cf. Fee 1987: 491–530), it is clear that Paul resists this innovation and seeks to reimpose the conventional symbols of gender differentiation for the sake of good order, while at the same time providing arguments that will not detract from women’s legitimate authority and, more positively still, will encourage the Corinthians as a whole in their worship, in the company of the angelic hosts, of the one true God.

One area where (at least some of) the Corinthians are exercising their freedom has to do with gender distinctions. When one reads between the lines, it appears that Christian women prophets—perhaps the women “holy in body and spirit” of 7:34 (so MacDonald 1990)—are expressing their new authority by disregarding conventional symbols of female identity and subordination. As people who have been remade by baptism as God’s new creation where “in Christ” there is “no male and female” (Gal 3:27–28; cf. Meeks 1974), they are praying and prophesying with their heads “uncovered.” Once again, therefore, the question Paul is addressing has to do with the appropriate embodiment (both individual and social) of Christian identity (cf. 1 Corinthians 7). In this case, the women’s sense of new identity expresses itself in innovation relating to the head: specifically, letting their hair down and/or removing their veils (the matter is debated; cf. Wire 1990: 220–23), and so “uncovering” their heads (11:3–5). Because the head is a symbolic location of authority, and hairstyle is emblematic of status and group affiliation, such innovation seems to be causing contention in the church and perhaps also in the wider society. It represents a challenge to conventional patterns of authority which assume a hierarchical and patriarchal order of “headship.”

But the anxiety may be related to other factors as well. Fiorenza (1983: 227), for example, points to a range of evidence showing Greek women in the mystery cults engaging in acts of worship with their heads uncovered or their hair hanging loose or both: “Such a sight of disheveled hair would be quite common in the ecstatic worship of oriental divinities.… Disheveled hair and head thrown back were typical for the maenads in the cult of Dionysos, in that of Cybele, the Pythia at Delphi, the Sibyl, and unbound hair was necessary for a woman to produce an effective magical incantation.… Flowing and unbound hair was also found in the Isis cult, which had a major center in Corinth.” Against this background, Paul may be concerned that the gatherings of the Corinthians are becoming indistinguishable from those of pagan idolaters. Whatever the precise details (cf. Fee 1987: 491–530), it is clear that Paul resists this innovation and seeks to reimpose the conventional symbols of gender differentiation for the sake of good order, while at the same time providing arguments that will not detract from women’s legitimate authority and, more positively still, will encourage the Corinthians as a whole in their worship, in the company of the angelic hosts, of the one true God.