1 Corinthians 11 is one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament (outside of Revelation, obviously). This is where Paul commands that women wear head coverings in worship, and mentions in verse 10 that this is "because of the angels".
When I was in my debate with foudroyant a few years ago, this passage came up but I wasn't sure what to make of it then, and neither were the authors of the study resources that I consulted.
Today, I was reading an unrelated article by Dr. Michael Heiser. He's a well known evangelical scholar who is completely orthodox (he does work for Logos Bible Software) but who is willing to look into topics that most people think are just crazy. Dr. Heiser made a claim about 1 Corinthians 11 that I was unfamiliar with. He said that there was a cultural belief that a woman's hair was connected to her genitalia and that going without a head covering was showing this off and that as a 1st century Jew, Paul shared in this belief. (He cites ancient writers like Aristotle and Hippocrates, he's not just making this up.) (Source: http://drmsh.com/christians-who-beli...his/#fn-9069-2 )
The obvious question is: If this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote this, what does this mean for modern Christians? Obviously nobody believes that anymore, but 1 Corinthians 11 is still in our Bible. Do we interpret this in general terms of dressing modestly at worship?
When I was in my debate with foudroyant a few years ago, this passage came up but I wasn't sure what to make of it then, and neither were the authors of the study resources that I consulted.
Today, I was reading an unrelated article by Dr. Michael Heiser. He's a well known evangelical scholar who is completely orthodox (he does work for Logos Bible Software) but who is willing to look into topics that most people think are just crazy. Dr. Heiser made a claim about 1 Corinthians 11 that I was unfamiliar with. He said that there was a cultural belief that a woman's hair was connected to her genitalia and that going without a head covering was showing this off and that as a 1st century Jew, Paul shared in this belief. (He cites ancient writers like Aristotle and Hippocrates, he's not just making this up.) (Source: http://drmsh.com/christians-who-beli...his/#fn-9069-2 )
The obvious question is: If this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote this, what does this mean for modern Christians? Obviously nobody believes that anymore, but 1 Corinthians 11 is still in our Bible. Do we interpret this in general terms of dressing modestly at worship?
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