Submit or rot — covering or not.

Paul argues women should cover their head “for the angels”. I think the ellipsis was put into today’s reading by the PCUSA people to avoid offense — for the feminists. So let’s go there.

Before we get into uncovering heads or covering heads (and the exegesis that an uncovered head meant you were a sex worker has some validity) it’s important to look at why. For Paul has a theology of woman in verse three, from which his advice flows.

1 Corinthians 11:2 (3-16) 17-22

²I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you. ³But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ. ⁴Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his head, ⁵but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head — it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. ⁶For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. ⁷For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man. ⁸Indeed, man was not made from woman, but woman from man. ⁹Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. ¹⁰For this reason a woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. ¹¹Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. ¹²For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God. ¹³Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? ¹⁴Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, ¹⁵but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. ¹⁶But if anyone is disposed to be contentious — we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. ¹⁹Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. ²⁰When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. ²¹For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. ²²What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

A few things.

Paul is writing a letter of correction. The clear correction is around the table: it should not be everyone eating what they bought, but something far more symbolic. Sharing meals is good — but no one should be hungry at the end of it. Nor drunk.

This has correctly led to regulations around how one performs communion. The books of order within the church — quite correctly — regulate this.

But back to theology and feminism and equality. There is nothing in this that indicates that we are not all moral agents, but instead that there is a structure of accountability in this world. From that comes the application about head covering. And from that logic comes another application — that the idea of submission is the important thing.

Ironically, women who submit generally like head coverings. To quote:

• I feel more reverent in church. I used to attend Mass bare-headed, and it always left me a bit unsettled. Now I am sure that I am showing proper reverence to the Eucharist, and that I am not distracting the men around me with my bouncing curls and hair-tossing.
• I feel more deferential outside of church. My headcovering is a constant reminder of my wifely submission and religious adherence, and it serves as a walking guilt-trip. I’m finding it more difficult to be rude or unkind, as my association is clearly marked and I worry about making a bad example. It also makes my prayer life more intense, somehow.
• Head coverings make having longer hair more convenient. I used to have my hair cropped quite close to my head, but now it’s nearly shoulder-length. As I possess a wild mess of curls, this was usually the length were I would give up growing it out and chop it all off again. This time I haven’t even noticed my hair growing, except when washing it at night (it doesn’t dry as quickly anymore).That might not seem like an important point to make, but it might help explain why shorter hairstyles became popular among women at the same time that head coverings went out of favor. My hair no longer seems like a time and energy consuming burden. I just wake up, brush it through, tie it up, and I’m done.

My conclusion is that there is a binary decision for women. Are they going to obey the clear word of scripture and tradition — for this is a point where the classic teaching has not deviated from the earliest days — and obey their husband, as he obeys Christ.

The rest follows. Now, one’s husband is not perfect and is not Christ. But Christ commands the structure, where we all, like the centurion, are under authority and have authority.

The alternative is equality and atomization of society, and that will be a disaster. The results of that experiment are in: empty churches, loss of faith, heartbreak, isolation and another generation of damaged children.

The world is going down that path: their ideology is that of the living dead, But, as I so often do, I quote Spengler: ” The best thing you can do for zombie cultures is, don’t be one of them” For as our society rots, the healthy will differentiate themselves from the devoluting masses.