An Eastern Orthodox Christian woman wearing a headcovering at church; behind her is an icon of the early Christian virgin martyr Saint Tatiana of Rome, who is depicted with her head covered.Women who belong to the Hutterite Church, an Anabaptist Christian denomination, wear their headcovering (usually in the form of an opaque hanging veil) throughout the day.Christian women wearing headcoverings at an Easter church service in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Christian head covering, also known as Christian veiling, is the traditional practice of women covering their head in a variety of Christian denominations. Some Christian women wear the head covering in public worship and during private prayer at home,[1][2][3] while others (esp. Conservative Anabaptists) believe women should wear head coverings at all times.[4]
Among Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches, certain theologians likewise teach that it is "expected of all women to be covered not only during liturgical periods of prayer, but at all times, for this was their honor and sign of authority given by our Lord",[5] while others have held that headcovering should at least be done during prayer and worship.[6][7] Genesis 24:65[8] records the veil as a feminine emblem of modesty.[9][10][1]
Manuals of early Christianity, including the Didascalia Apostolorum and Pædagogus, instructed that a headcovering must be worn by women during prayer and worship as well as when outside the home.[11][12] When Saint Paul commanded women to be veiled in 1 Corinthians, the surrounding pagan Greek women did not wear headcoverings; as such, the practice of Christian headcovering was countercultural in the Apostolic Era, being a biblical ordinance rather than a cultural tradition.[A][17][18][19][20] The style of headcovering varies by region, though Apostolic Tradition specifies an "opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen".[21]
Those enjoining the practice of head covering for Christian women while "praying and prophesying" ground their argument in 1 Corinthians 11.[22][23] Denominations that teach that women should wear head coverings at all times additionally base this doctrine on Saint Paul's dictum that Christians are to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17),[24][25] Saint Paul's teaching that women being unveiled is dishonourable, and as a reflection of the created order.[B][25][33][34] Many Biblical scholars conclude that in 1 Corinthians 11 "verses 4–7 refer to a literal veil or covering of cloth" for "praying and prophesying" and hold verse 15 to refer to the hair of a woman given to her by nature.[35][36][37][38] Christian headcovering with a cloth veil was the practice of the early Church, being universally taught by the Church Fathers and practiced by Christian women throughout history,[35][2][39][40] continuing to be the ordinary practice among Christians in many parts of the world, such as Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Egypt, Ethiopia, India and Pakistan;[41][42][43][44][45] additionally, among Conservative Anabaptists such as the Conservative Mennonite churches and the Dunkard Brethren Church, headcovering is counted as an ordinance of the Church, being worn throughout the day by women.[4][31] However, in much of the Western world the practice of head covering declined during the 20th century and in churches where it is not practiced, veiling as described in 1 Corinthians 11 is usually taught as being a societal practice for the age in which the passage was written.[46][47][48]
During the time of Moses, the Bible records that it was normative for women to wear a head covering (cf. Numbers 5:18).[1] In Numbers 5:18, the sotah (meaning "one who goes astray") ritual, in which the head of a woman accused of adultery is uncovered (made parua), is explicated, implying that normally a woman's head is covered; the Talmud thus teaches that the Torah (Pentateuch) commands women to go out in public with their heads covered.[49][50] This headcovering worn during biblical times was a veil or headscarf.[51]
In the Old Testament's Book of Daniel, Susanna wore a headcovering and wicked men demanded that it be removed so that they might lust after her (cf. Susanna 13:31–33).[1]Genesis 24:64–65 records that Rebecca, while traveling to meet Isaac, "did not flaunt her physical beauty" but "veiled herself, increasing her allure through an outward display of modesty."[1] The removal of a woman's veil in the passage of Isaiah 47:1–3 is linked with nakedness and shame.[52] The biblical book Song of Songs records "the erotic nature of hair from the verse, 'Your hair is as a flock of goats' (Song of Songs, 4:1), i.e., from a verse praising her beauty."[53] Jewish law around the time of Jesus stipulated that a married woman who uncovered her hair in public evidenced her infidelity.[54]
Multiple Church Fathers taught that the hair of a woman has sexual potency, therefore it should only be for her husband to see and covered the rest of the time.[55][56]1 Corinthians 11:2–6, teaches: "... keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered."[38][57] In his explication of Saint Paul's command in 1 Corinthians 11:10, the Church Father Irenaeus (c.130– c.202), the last living connection to the Apostles who penned Against Heresies, explained that the "power" or "authority" on a woman's head when praying and prophesying was a cloth veil (κάλυμμα kalumma).[58] The Church Father Hippolytus of Rome (c.170– c.235) while giving instructions for church gatherings said "...let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering."[35][59] The early Christian apologist Tertullian (c.155– c.220) likewise held that the covering should be a substantial one (cf. headscarf):[60]
Because you can't avoid wearing a veil, you should not find some other way to nullify it. That is, by going about neither covered nor bare. For some women do not veil their heads, but rather bind them up with turbans and woollen bands. It's true that they are protected in front. But where the head properly lies, they are bare. Others cover only the area of the brain with small linen coifs that do not even quite reach the ears. ... They should know that the entire head constitutes the woman. Its limits and boundaries reach as far as the place where the robe begins. The region of the veil is co-extensive with the space covered by the hair when it is unbound. In this way, the neck too is encircled. The pagan women of Arabia will be your judges. For they cover not only the head, but the face also. ... But how severe a chastisement will they likewise deserve, who remain uncovered even during the recital of the Psalms and at any mention of the name of God? For even when they are about to spend time in prayer itself, they only place a fringe, tuft [of cloth], or any thread whatever on the crown of their heads. And they think that they are covered![60]
In addition to praying and worshipping, the ancient Christian Didascalia Apostolorum directed that Christian women should wear headcoverings in public: "Thou therefore who art a Christian [woman] ... if thou wishest to be faithful, please thy husband only, and when thou walkest in the market-place, cover thy head with thy garment, that by thy veil the greatness of thy beauty may be covered; do not adorn the face of thine eyes, but look down and walk veiled; be watchful, not to wash in the baths with men."[11] In the same vein, Clement of Alexandria (c.150– c.215), an early Christian theologian, instructed in Paedagogus that "Woman and man are to go to church decently attired ... Let the woman observe this, further. Let her be entirely covered, unless she happen to be at home. For that style of dress is grave, and protects from being gazed at. And she will never fall, who puts before her eyes modesty, and her shawl; nor will she invite another to fall into sin by uncovering her face. For this is the wish of the Word, since it is becoming for her to pray veiled."[61][62] Clement of Alexandria says: "Because of the angels". By the angels he means righteous and virtuous men. Let her be veiled then, that she may not lead them to stumble into fornication. For the real angels in heaven see her though veiled.[63] Clement of Alexandria explicated this: "It has also been commanded that the head should be veiled and the face covered, for it is a wicked thing for beauty to be a snare to men. Nor is it appropriate for a woman to desire to make herself conspicuous by using a purple veil."[39]Tertullian explains that in his days, the women of the Corinthian church from the age of puberty onwards (unmarried and married) were practicing Christian headcovering despite the fact that non-Christians in the region did not observe this ordinance; as such, the practice of Christians was countercultural.[C][20][18][65][66][17] In his deliberative treatise De virginibus velandis ("On the Veiling of Virgins") Tertullian argumented from scripture, natural law and Christian disclipline that from puberty virgins ought to be veiled when in public.[67] The custom of some Carthaginian consecrated virgins not being veiled when the church gathered was sharply criticised as being contrary to the truth. This is only 150 years after the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. He said, "So, too, did the Corinthians themselves understand [Paul]. In fact, at this day the Corinthians do veil their virgins [and married women]. What the apostles taught, their disciples approve."[68][18][69] "Early church history bears witness that in Rome, Antioch, and Africa the custom [of wearing the head covering] became the norm [for the Church]."[70] Author Cory Anderson stated that the reason for this is because early Christians understood Saint Paul's instruction to apply to the whole church.[68]Origen of Alexandria (c.185– c.253) wrote, "There are angels in the midst of our assembly... we have here a twofold Church, one of men, the other of angels... And since there are angels present... women, when they pray, are ordered to have a covering upon their heads because of those angels. They assist the saints and rejoice in the Church." In the second half of the third century, women praying with their heads covered is mentioned as church practice by St. Victorinus in his commentary of the Apocalypse of John.[71] The early Christian Acts of Thomas, written in Syriac Aramaic, assigns Hell as the fate of women who did not wear a headcovering, stating:[37]
And he took me unto another pit, and I stooped and looked and saw mire and worms welling up, and souls wallowing there, and a great gnashing of teeth was heard thence from them. And that man said unto me: These are the souls of women which forsook their husbands and committed adultery with others, and are brought into this torment. Another pit he showed me whereinto I stooped and looked and saw souls hanging, some by the tongue, some by the hair, some by the hands, and some head downward by the feet, and tormented (smoked) with smoke and brimstone; concerning whom that man that was with me answered me: The souls which are hanged by the tongue are slanderers, that uttered lying and shameful words, and were not ashamed, and they that are hanged by the hair are unblushing ones which had no modesty and went about in the world bareheaded.[37]
"The Apostolic Constitutions [4th century AD] ... expressly commanded that the women should have their heads covered in the Church."[19] In the same era, the Early Church Father John Chrysostom (c.347–407) delineated Saint Paul's teaching, explaining that Christian women should wear a cloth headcovering when in public in view of Saint Paul's comparison of a woman not wearing a veil to being shaven, which he states is "always dishonourable":[72][33]
Well then: the man he compelleth not to be always uncovered, but only when he prays. "For every man," saith he, "praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head." But the woman he commands to be at all times covered. Wherefore also having said, "Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head unveiled, dishonoureth her head," he stayed not at this point only, but also proceeded to say, "for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven." But if to be shaven is always dishonourable, it is plain too that being uncovered is always a reproach. And not even with this only was he content, but he added again, saying, "The woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels". He signifies that not at the time of prayer only but also continually, she ought to be covered. But with regard to the man, it is no longer about covering but about wearing long hair, that he so forms his discourse. To be covered he then only forbids, when a man is praying; but the wearing of long hair he discourages at all times.[33][72]
John Chrysostom held that to be disobedient to the Christian teaching on veiling was harmful and sinful: "... the business of whether to cover one's head was legislated by nature (see 1 Cor 11:14–15). When I say 'nature', I mean 'God'. For he is the one who created nature. Take note, therefore, what great harm comes from overturning these boundaries! And don't tell me that this is a small sin."[73] While at home, John Chrysostom taught that before picking up a copy of the Bible, in addition to washing one's hands, women (if not already veiled) should wear a headcovering "displaying a token of her inner piety".[74]Jerome (c.342– c.347–420) noted that the hair cap and the prayer veil is worn by Christian women in Egypt and Syria, who "do not go about with heads uncovered in defiance of the apostle's command, for they wear a close-fitting cap and a veil".[75]Augustine of Hippo (354–430) writes about the head covering, "It is not becoming, even in married women, to uncover their hair, since the apostle commands women to keep their heads covered."[76]Early Christian art also confirms that women wore headcoverings during this time period.[77][18]
Middle Ages and Modern Era
A wimple as shown in Portrait of a Woman, circa 1430–1435, by Robert Campin (1375/1379–1444), National Gallery, London. The wimple features four layers of cloth, and the pins holding it in place are visible at the top of the head.
Until at least the 19th century and still extant in certain regions, the wearing of a head covering, both in the public and while attending church, was regarded as customary for Christian women, in line with the injunction to do so in 1 Corinthians 11, in the Mediterranean, European, Indian, Middle Eastern, and African societies.[78][79][80][81][82][41][57][83] With the custom of Christian headcovering being practiced for centuries, in the Middle Ages, a woman who did not wear a head covering was interpreted to be "a prostitute or adulteress", though this was not the case in the preceding Ante-Nicene period during which pagan Greek women went about in public and prayed bareheaded (in contrast to the Christian women who veiled themselves).[78][84][18][64]
Christian literature, with respect to demonology, has documented that during exorcisms, possessed women have attempted to tear off their headcovering, as with the case of Frances Bruchmüllerin in Sulzbach.[85][86]
The practice of headcovering continues to be the ordinary practice among Christian women in many parts of the world, such as Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, India and Pakistan.[41][43][87][1][88][45] In the West, "up until World War I, a woman slipped on a white cap immediately upon arising...and some type of hat or bonnet was worn every time she left the house."[79][89] The custom has declined in America and Western Europe, though certain Christian denominations (such as those of Conservative Anabaptism) continue to require it and many Christian women continue to observe the ancient practice.[7][3]David Bercot, a scholar on early Christianity, noted that relatively recent interpretations in the Western World that do not necessitate the wearing of headcoverings by women, in contrast to the historic practice of female Christian veiling, are linked with the rise of feminism in the 20th century.[90][47][91] In 1968, American feminist group – the National Organization for Women – released a "Resolution on Head Coverings":[92]
WHEREAS, the wearing of a head covering by women at religious services is a custom in many churches and whereas it is a symbol of subjection within these churches, NOW recommends that all chapters undertake an effort to have all women participate in a "national unveiling" by sending their head coverings to the task force chairman immediately. At the Spring meeting of the Task force on Women in Religion, these veils will then publicly be burned to protest the second class status of women in all churches."[92][93]
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1969, fifteen women from the Milwaukee chapter of the National Organization for Women protested in St. John de Nepomuc Catholic Church; after taking their place at the communion rail, the women removed their hats and placed them on the communion rail.[94] The following week, the Milwaukee Sentinel published a letter to the editor from "Mrs. M. E., Milwaukee," who felt that the protest was "immature exhibitionism."[92][95] A text printed after the close of the 20th century reflects a general Western Christian attitude towards the practice of head covering for women, with American authors Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, and Gordon D. Fee opining in the book "Discovering Biblical Equality":[46]
First Corinthians 11:3–16 deals with the significance of a "head covering" for women while they are praying and prophesying in the gathered church. The significance of a head covering appears to be a cultural factor that is quite diverse in various times and places. Indeed, because of the diverse nature Corinth itself – a Roman colony situated at the center of the Greek world – it is nearly impossible to know for certain what would have been normal for Corinthian culture as such. In the contemporary world, such head coverings (whatever they were in fact) have little to no social significance. Thus this is rightly understood to be a cultural issue and a matter of personal choice for a believer today.[46]
Nevertheless, in the 21st century, the practice of headcovering is being revived in the Western World among some women belonging to various Christian congregations where the practice lapsed, though other denominations have practiced the biblical ordinance perpetually, as with Dunkard Brethren or Conservative Mennonites, the latter of which count headcovering among the seven ordinances of the Church.[4][96][97][98][99][100] In particular, Catholics have seen a slight revival of veiling in women.[101] The sociologist Cory Anderson stated that for those Christian women who continually wear it, such as Conservative Anabaptists, the headcovering serves as an outward testimony that often allows for evangelism.[68]
Styles
With respect to the early Church, Tom Shank concluded that there were a variety of headcoverings worn by the early Christians, ranging from shawls to kapps: "William McGrath (1991) found that etchings in the Catacomb of Domitila in Rome – dating as far back as A.D. 95 – show 'modestly dressed sisters wearing the cap style veiling.' Warren Henderson, writing about the catacombs, also observed that women covered their heads, but emphasized the cloth styles."[68] In the present-day, various styles of headcoverings are worn by Christian women:
Western women formerly wore bonnets as their headcoverings, and later, hats became predominant.[127][128] This practice has generally declined in the Western world, though headcoverings for women are common during formal services such as weddings, in the United Kingdom.[129][130][117] Among many adherents of Western Christian denominations in the Eastern Hemisphere (such as in the Indian subcontinent), head covering remains normative.[42][125][131][2]
Headcovering for women was unanimously held by the Latin Church until the 1983 Code of Canon Law came into effect.[136] A headcovering in the Catholic tradition carries the status of a sacramental.[137][138] Historically, women were required to veil their heads when receiving the Eucharist following the Councils of Autun and Angers.[139] Similarly, in 585, the Synod of Auxerre (France) stated that women should wear a head-covering during the Holy Mass.[140][141] The Synod of Rome in 743 declared that "A woman praying in church without her head covered brings shame upon her head, according to the word of the Apostle",[142] a position later supported by Pope Nicholas I in 866, for church services."[143] In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) said that "the man existing under God should not have a covering over his head to show that he is immediately subject to God; but the woman should wear a covering to show that besides God she is naturally subject to another."[144] In the 1917 Code of Canon Law it was a requirement that women cover their heads in church. It said, "women, however, shall have a covered head and be modestly dressed, especially when they approach the table of the Lord."[145] Veiling was not specifically addressed in the 1983 revision of the Code, which declared the 1917 Code abrogated.[146] According to the new Code, former law only has interpretive weight in norms that are repeated in the 1983 Code; all other norms are simply abrogated.[97] This effectively eliminated the former requirement for a headcovering for Catholic women, by silently dropping it in the new Code of Canon. In some countries, like India, the wearing of a headscarf by Catholic women remains the norm. The Eucharist has been refused to ladies who present themselves without a headcovering.[147]
Traditional Catholic and Plain Catholic women continue to practice headcovering, even while most Catholic women in western society no longer do so.[148]
Lutheran
Martin Luther, the father of the Lutheran tradition, encouraged wives to wear a veil in public worship.[149] The General Rubrics of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, as contained in "The Lutheran Liturgy", state in a section titled "Headgear for Women": "It is laudable custom, based upon a Scriptural injunction (1 Cor. 11:3–15), for women to wear an appropriate head covering in Church, especially at the time of divine service."[150]
Some Lutheran women wear the headcovering during the celebration of the Divine Service and in private prayer.[151]
Moravian/Hussite
Female dieners in the Moravian Church serving bread to fellow members of their congregation during the celebration in a lovefeast are seen wearing headcoverings.
Moravian ladies wear a lace headcovering called a haube, when serving as dieners in the celebration of lovefeasts.[152]
In the Reformed tradition, both John Calvin, the founder of the Continental Reformed Churches, and John Knox, the founder of the Presbyterian Churches, both called for women to wear head coverings.[153][154] Calvin taught that headcovering was the cornerstone of modesty for Christian women and held that those who removed their veils from their hair would soon come to remove the clothing covering their breasts and that covering their midriffs, leading to societal indecency:[155]
So if women are thus permitted to have their heads uncovered and to show their hair, they will eventually be allowed to expose their entire breasts, and they will come to make their exhibitions as if it were a tavern show; they will become so brazen that modesty and shame will be no more; in short they will forget the duty of nature...Further, we know that the world takes everything to its own advantage. So, if one has liberty in lesser things, why not do the same with this the same way as with that? And in making such comparisons they will make such a mess that there will be utter chaos. So, when it is permissible for the women to uncover their heads, one will say, 'Well, what harm in uncovering the stomach also?' And then after that one will plead for something else; 'Now if the women go bareheaded, why not also bare this and bare that?' Then the men, for their part, will break loose too. In short, there will be no decency left, unless people contain themselves and respect what is proper and fitting, so as not to go headlong overboard.[156]
The Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, part of the Gurneyite-Orthodox branch of Quakerism, teaches that in 1 Corinthians 11 Saint Paul instituted the veiling of women as "a Christian woman's way of properly honoring the headship of men in the church and of making a statement of submission to their authority (vs. 3, 5)."[183] The wearing of a veil is thus "the statement of genuine Christian piety and submission."[183] The same passage, in the view of the Central Yearly Meeting, teaches that in addition to a head covering, verses 14 and 15 teach that "nature has endowed women with a natural covering which is their long hair".[183] Given this, the Central Yearly Meeting holds that:[183]
While there are groups of Christians today who make their statement of submission by wearing coverings in keeping with this passage of Scripture, there are others who feel that in the present culture their long hair is sufficient to make such a statement. While we believe it is for those who wish to wear a covering to do so as a fine and becoming statement of submission, we urge them also to have their long and uncut. We believe regarding those Christian women who do not wear a covering that while it is proper for them to have their hair long, their long hair may not necessarily be a statement of piety since others in the world may have the same. For this reason, we believe that a Christian woman [who does not wear a head covering] makes her best statement of piety and submission by wearing her hair done up in a manner that is both feminine and unassuming.[183]
Conservative Friends (Quaker) women, including some from the Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative), wear headcoverings usually in the form of a "scarf, bonnet, or cap."[32]
Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren women wear a headscarf during worship, in addition to wearing some form of headcovering in public.[184]
Baptist
Roger Williams, the founder of the first Baptist movement in North America, taught that women should veil themselves during worship as this was the practice of the early Church.[185]
The wearing of a head covering during Pentecostal worship was the normative practice from its inception; in the 1960s, "head coverings stopped being obligatory" in many Pentecostal denominations of Western Europe, when, "with little debate", many Pentecostals "had absorbed elements of popular culture".[186]
Female members of Jehovah's Witnesses may only lead prayer and teaching when no baptized male is available to, and must do so wearing a head covering.[193][194]
In the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, Shaker girls and women wear a headcovering as a part of their daily wear.[195] These are in the form of a white cap.[195] Historically, these were sewn by Shaker women themselves, though in the middle of the 20th century, the rise of ready-made clothing allowed for the purchase of the same.[195]
An ancient Orthodox Christian prayer titled the "Prayer for binding up the head of a woman" has been used liturgically for the blessing of a woman's headcovering(s), which was historically worn by an Orthodox Christian woman at all times with the exception of sleeping:[5]
O God, you who have spoken through the prophets and proclaimed that in the final generations the light of your knowledge will be for all nations, you who desire that no human created by your hands remain devoid of salvation, you who through the apostle Paul, your elected instrument, ordered us to do everything for your glory, and through him you instituted laws for men and women who live in the faith, namely that men offer praise and glory to your holy name with an uncovered head, while women, fully armed in your faith, covering the head, adorn themselves in good works and bring hymns and prayers to your glory with modesty and sobriety; you, O master of all things, bless this your servant and adorn her head with an ornament that is acceptable and pleasing to you, with gracefulness, as well as honour and decorum, so that conducting herself according to your commandments and educating the members (of her body) toward self-control, she may attain your eternal benefits together with the one who binds her (head) up. In Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom to you belongs glory together with the most holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever (and unto the ages of ages).[5]
Alexei Trader, the Eastern Orthodox bishop of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, delineated the teaching of the Church on a Christian woman's headcovering:[74]
In the Orthodox Church, the act of placing something under or behind a veil sets it apart as special, as something to be revered and respected, similar to the role played by the temple veil of the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. Thus, there is a connection between a woman's veil with covering and revering that which is precious, such as the chalice that contains the wine that will become the Most-pure blood of Christ. And those coverings themselves also become holy. We can see this in the account of the Byzantine Empress Eudokia who donated her personal veil/head-covering to a monastery for use as an altar cloth. Of all articles of clothing, only a woman's head-covering could become a vestment for the holy altar, for it is already a kind of vestment.[74]
Bishop Alexei further stated that "Every Orthodox woman who wears a veil or head-covering is also blessed by that veil of the Mother of God, which miraculously and repeatedly protected the faithful from so much harm."[74]
Women belonging to the community of Old Believers wear opaque Christian headcoverings, with those who are married keeping a knitted bonnet known as a povoinik underneath.[199]
Eastern Orthodox nuns wear a head covering called an apostolnik, which is worn at all times, and is the only part of the monastic habit which distinguishes them from Eastern Orthodox monks.
In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, Coptic women historically covered their head and face in public and in the presence of men.[201] During the 19th century, upper-class urban Christian and Muslim women in Egypt wore a garment which included a head cover and a burqa (muslin cloth that covered the lower nose and the mouth).[202] The name of this garment, harabah, derives from early Christian and Judaic religious vocabulary, which may indicate the origins of the garment itself.[202] Unmarried women generally wore white veils while married women wore black.[201] The practice began to decline by the early 20th century.[201]
Women in the Believers Eastern Church, an Oriental Protestant denomination, wear head coverings.[204] Its former Metropolitan Bishop, K. P. Yohannan teaches that "When a woman wears the symbol of God's government, a head covering, she is essentially a rebuke to all the fallen angels. Her actions say to them, 'You have rebelled against the Holy God, but I submit to Him and His headship. I choose not to follow your example of rebellion and pride.'"[2]
Scriptural basis
A Slavic woman wearing a headcovering during Christian worship
Old Testament and Apocrypha/Deuterocanon
Passages such as Genesis 24:65,[205] Numbers 5:18,[206] Song of Solomon 5:7,[207] Susanna 1:31–32,[208] and Isaiah 47:2[209] indicate that believing women wore a head covering during the Old Testament era.[1][210] Song of Songs 4:1[211] records that hair is sensual in nature, with Solomon praising its beauty.[53] The removal of a woman's veil in the passage of Isaiah 47:1–3 is linked with nakedness and shame.[52]
New Testament
1 Corinthians 11[212] contains a key passage to the use of headcoverings for women (and the uncovering of the heads of men).[23][213] Much of the interpretive discussion revolves around this passage.
Exegesis
Paul introduces this passage by praising the Corinthian Christians for remembering the "ordinances" (also translated as "traditions"[214] or "teachings")[215] that he had passed on to them (verse 2).[15] Included in these apostolic ordinances that Paul is discussing in 1 Corinthians 11 are the headcovering and the Eucharist.[216]
Paul then explains the Christian use of head coverings using the subjects of headship, glory, angels, natural hair lengths, and the practice of the churches.[1][217] This led to the universal practice of headcovering in Christianity.[35][1] Theologians David Lipscomb and J. W. Shepherd in their Commentary on 1st Corinthians explicate the theology behind the traditional Christian interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11, writing that Paul taught that "Every man, therefore, who in praying or prophesying covers his head, thereby acknowledges himself dependent on some earthly head other than his heavenly head, and thereby takes from the latter the honor which is due to him as the head of man." In the Old Testament, priests (who were all male) wore turbans and caps as Jesus was not known in that era, establishing "the reason why there was no command to honour Him by praying or prophesying with heads uncovered."[90] With the revelation of Jesus to humanity, "Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonours his head (Christ)."[90] In light of 1 Corinthians 11:4, Christian men throughout church history have thus removed their caps when praying and worshipping, as well as when entering a church.[218][219][220] As the biblical passage progresses, Paul teaches that:[90]
God's order for the woman is the opposite from His order for the man. When she prays or prophesies she must cover her head. If she does not, she disgraces her head (man). This means that she must show her subjection to God's arrangement of headship by covering her head while praying or prophesying. Her action in refusing to cover her head is a statement that she is equal in authority to man. In that case, she is the same as a woman who shaves her head like a man might do. Paul does not say that the woman disgraces her husband. The teaching applies to all women, whether married or not, for it is God's law that woman in general be subject to man in general. She shows this by covering her head when praying or prophesying.[90]
Ezra Palmer Gould, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School, noted that "The long hair and the veil were both intended as a covering of the head, and as a sign of true womanliness, and of the right relation of woman to man; and hence the absence of one had the same significance as that of the other."[221] This is reflected in the patristic teaching of the Early Church Father John Chrysostom, who explained the two coverings discussed by Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:[64]
For he said not merely covered, but covered over, meaning that she be with all care sheltered from view on every side. And by reducing it to an absurdity, he appeals to their shame, saying by way of severe reprimand, but if she be not covered, let her also be shorn. As if he had said, "If thou cast away the covering appointed by the law of God, cast away likewise that appointed by nature."[64]
John William McGarvey, in delineating verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 11, suggested that "To abandon this justifiable and well established symbol of subordination would be a shock to the submissive and obedient spirit of the ministering angels (Isaiah 6:2) who, though unseen, are always present with you in your places of worship (Matthew 18:10–31; Psalm 138:1; 1 Timothy 5:21; ch. 4:9; Ecclesiastes 5:6)".[222] Furthermore, verse 10 refers to the cloth veil as a sign of power or authority that highlights the unique God-given role of a Christian woman and grants her the ability to then "pray and prophesy with the spiritual gifts she has been given" (cf. complementarianism).[190] This was taught by Early Church Father Irenaeus (120–202 A.D.), the last living connection to the Apostles, who in his explication of Saint Paul's command in 1 Corinthians 11:10, delineated in Against Heresies that the "authority" or "power" on a woman's head was a cloth veil (κάλυμμα kalumma).[58] Irenaeus' explanation constitutes an early Christian commentary on this biblical verse.[223] Related to this is the fact that Verse 10, in many early copies of the Bible (such as certain vg, copbo, and arm), is rendered with the word "veil" (κάλυμμα kalumma) rather than the word "authority" (ἐξουσία exousia); the Revised Standard Version reflects this, displaying the verse as follows: "That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels".[224][223] Similarly, a scholarly footnote in the New American Bible notes that presence of the word "authority (exousia) may possibly be due to mistranslation of an Aramaic word for veil".[225] This mistranslation may be due to "the fact that in Aramaic the roots of the word power and veil are spelled the same."[226]Ronald Knox adds that certain biblical scholars hold that "Paul is attempting, by means of this Greek word, to render a Hebrew word that signifies the veil traditionally worn by a married Jewish woman."[227] Nevertheless, the "word exousia had come at Corinth, or in the Corinthian Church, to be used for 'a veil,' or 'covering'...just as the word 'kingdom' in Greek may be used for 'a crown' (compare regno as the name of the pope's tiara), so authority may mean a sign of authority (Revised Version), or 'a covering, in sign that she is under the power of her husband' (Authorized Version, margin)."[228][229]Jean Chardin's scholarship on the Near East thus notes that women "wear a veil, in sign that they are under subjection."[228][229] In addition to Irenaeus, Church Fathers, including Hippolytus, Origen, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Jerome, Augustine, and Bede write verse 10 using the word "veil" (κάλυμμα kalumma).[223][230]
Certain denominations of Christianity, such as traditional Anabaptists (e.g. Conservative Mennonites), combine this with 1 Thessalonians 5 ("Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances")[231] and hold that Christian women are commanded to wear a headcovering without ceasing.[232][25] Anabaptist expositors, such as Daniel Willis, have cited the Early Church Father John Chrysostom, who provided additional reasons from Scripture for the practice of a Christian woman wearing her headcovering all the time – that "if to be shaven is always dishonourable, it is plain too that being uncovered is always a reproach" and that "because of the angels...signifies that not at the time of prayer only but also continually, she ought to be covered."[72][29][33] A Conservative Anabaptist publication titled The Significance of the Christian Woman's Veiling, authored by Merle Ruth, teaches with regard to the continual wearing of the headcovering by believing women, that it is:[30]
... worn to show that the wearer is in God's order. A sister should wear the veiling primarily because she is a woman, not because she periodically prays of teaches. It is true that verses 4 and 5 speak of the practice in relation to times of praying and prophesying. But very likely it was for such occasions that the Corinthians had begun to feel they might omit the practice in the name of Christian liberty. The correction would naturally be applied first to the point of violation. Greek scholars have pointed out that the clause "Let her be covered" is the present, active, imperative form, which gives the meaning, "Let her continue to be veiled."[30]
The biblical passage has been interpreted by Anabaptist Christians and Orthodox Christians, among others, in conjunction with modesty in clothing (1 Timothy 2:9–10 "I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God").[233] Genesis 24:65[8] records the veil as a feminine emblem of modesty.[9][10][1] The wearing of headcoverings in public by Christian women was commanded in early Christian texts, such as the Didascalia Apostolorum and the Pædagogus, for the purpose of modesty.[11][61]
Verse four of 1 Corinthians 11 uses the Greek words kata kephalēs (κατάIn κεφαλῆς) for "head covered", the same Greek words used in Esther 6:12[234] (Septuagint) where "because he [Haman] had been humiliated, he headed home, draping an external covering over his head" (additionally certain manuscripts of the Septuagint in Esther 6:12 use the Greek words κατακεκαλυμμένος κεφαλήν, which is the "perfect passive participle of the key verb used in 1 Corinthians 11:6 and 7 for both a man's and a woman's covering his or her head [κατακαλύπτω]") – facts that New Testament scholar Rajesh Gandhi states makes it clear that the passage enjoins the wearing of a cloth veil by Christian women.[235][236] Biblical scholar Christopher R. Hutson contextualizes the verse citing Greek texts of the same era, such as Moralia:[237]
Plutarch's phrase, "covering his head" is literally "having down from the head" (kata tes kephales echon). This is the same phrase Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 11:4. It refers to the Roman practice of pulling one's toga up over the head like a hood. ... Romans also wore their togas "down from the head" when they offered sacrifices. This is the practice to which Paul refers.[237]
Verses five through seven, as well as verse thirteen, of 1 Corinthians 11 use a form of the Greek word for "veiled", κατακαλύπτω katakalupto; this is contrasted with the Greek word περιβόλαιον peribolaion, which is mentioned in verse 15 of the same chapter, in reference to "something cast around" as with the "hair of a woman ... like a mantle cast around".[17][238][239][240] These separate Greek words indicate that there are thus two headcoverings that Paul states are compulsory for Christian women to wear, a cloth veil and her natural hair.[36][236] The words Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 11:5 are employed by contemporary Hellenistic philosophers, such as Philo (30 BC–45 AD) in Special Laws 3:60, who uses "head uncovered" (akatakalyptō tē kephalē) [ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ] and "it is clear that Philo is speaking of a head covering being removed because the priest had just removed her kerchief"; additionally, akatakalyptos [ἀκατακάλυπτος] likewise "means 'uncovered' in Philo, Allegorical Interpretation II,29, and in Polybius 15,27.2 (second century BC)."[241] 1 Corinthians 11:16[242] concludes the passage Paul wrote about Christian veiling: "But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God's other churches."[15] Michael Marlowe, a scholar of biblical languages, explains that Saint Paul's inclusion of this statement was to affirm that the "headcovering practice is a matter of apostolic authority and tradition, and not open to debate", evidenced by repeating a similar sentence with which he starts the passage: "maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you".[15]
There are several key sections of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 that Bible commentators and Christian congregations, since the 1960s, have held differing opinions about, which have resulted in either churches continuing the practice of wearing headcoverings, or not practicing the ordinance.[47][243]
Gender-based headship: Paul connects the use (or non-use) of headcoverings with the biblical distinctions between each gender. In 1 Corinthians 11:3,[244] Paul wrote, "Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman." He immediately continues with a gender-based teaching on the use of headcoverings: "Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head."[15]
Glory and worship: Paul next explains that the use (or non-use) of headcoverings is related to God's glory during times of prayer and prophesy. In 1 Corinthians 11:7,[245] he states that man is the "glory of God" and that for this reason "a man ought not to have his head covered." In the same verse, Paul also states that the woman is the "glory of man." He explains that statement in the subsequent two verses by referring to the woman's creation in Genesis 2:18,[246] and then concludes, "Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head" (verse 10). In other words, the "glory of God" (man) is to be uncovered during times of worship, while the "glory of man" (woman) is to be covered.[15]
Angels: In 1 Corinthians 11:10,[247] Paul says "Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels" (NASB), also rendered "That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels" (RSV). Many interpreters admit that Paul does not provide much explanation for the role of angels in this context. Some popular interpretations of this passage are:
An appeal not to offend the angels by disobedience to Paul's instructions of women wearing a veil (and men praying with their heads uncovered) as the angels take part in spiritual exercises (Tobit 12:12–15, Revelation 8:2–4)[248][249][250][222][1]
a command to accurately show angels a picture of the created order (Ephesians 3:10,[251] 1 Peter 1:12),[252]
a warning for mankind to obey as a means of accountability, since the angels are watching (1 Timothy 5:21),[253]
to be like the angels who cover themselves in the presence of God (Isaiah 6:2),[254][30] and
to protect against the fallen angels who lust after mortal women and did not stay in the role that God created for them (Jude 1:6).[255][256]
Nature and hair lengths: In 1 Corinthians 11:13–15,[257] Paul asks a rhetorical question about the propriety of headcoverings, and then answers it himself with a lesson from nature: "Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering." The historic interpretation of this passage, for example seen in Homilies of John Chrysostom, an Early Church Father, reiterates Paul's teaching that since a woman naturally "covers" her head with her natural hair, she likewise ought to cover it with a cloth headcovering while praying or prophesying (cf. conditional sentence).[36][64]
Thus, in the beginning he simply requires that the head be not bare: but as he proceeds he intimates both the continuance of the rule, saying, "for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven," and the keeping of it with all care and diligence. For he said not merely covered, but "covered over," meaning that she be carefully wrapped up on every side. And by reducing it to an absurdity, he appeals to their shame, saying by way of severe reprimand, "but if she be not covered, let her also be shorn." As if he had said, "If thou cast away the covering appointed by the law of God, cast away likewise that appointed by nature." — John Chrysostom[258]
In the appeal to "nature" (φύσις) here Paul makes contact with another philosophy of ancient times, known as Stoicism. The Stoics believed that intelligent men could discern what is best in life by examining the laws of nature, without relying on the changeable customs and divers laws made by human rulers. If we consult Nature, we find that it constantly puts visible differences between the male and the female of every species, and it also gives us certain natural inclinations when judging what is proper to each sex. So Paul uses an analogy, comparing the woman's headcovering to her long hair, which is thought to be more natural for a woman. Though long hair on men is possible, and in some cultures it has been customary for men to have long hair, it is justly regarded as effeminate. It requires much grooming, it interferes with vigorous physical work, and a man with long hair is likely to be seized by it in a fight. It is therefore unmanly by nature. But a woman's long hair is her glory. Here again is the word δόξα, used opposite ἀτιμία "disgrace," in the sense of "something bringing honor." Long and well-kept hair brings praise to a woman because it contributes to her feminine beauty. The headcovering, which covers the head like a woman's hair, may be seen in the same way. Our natural sense of propriety regarding the hair may therefore be carried over to the headcovering.[15]
Paul's discussion of hair lengths was not to command any specific hair measurement, but rather, a discussion of "male and female differentiation" as women generally had longer hair than men; while the males of Sparta wore shoulder-length hair, the hair of Spartan women was significantly longer.[259]
Church practice: In 1 Corinthians 11:16,[260] Paul responded to any readers who may disagree with his teaching about the use of headcoverings: "But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God." This may indicate that headcoverings were considered a standard, universal Christian symbolic practice (rather than a local cultural custom). In other words, while churches were spread out geographically and contained a diversity of cultures, they all practiced headcovering for female members.[15]
Contemporary conclusions
Shawls have been used as a headcovering by Christian women in various parts of the world, such as in Russia; they were worn by the females at the church in Corinth during the era of early Christianity.
Beginning in the 20th century, due to aforementioned issues, Bible commentators and Christian congregations have either advocated for the continued practice of wearing headcoverings, or have discarded the observance of this ordinance as understood in its historic sense.[2][243] While many Christian congregations, such as those of the Conservative Anabaptists, continue to enjoin the wearing of headcoverings for female members, others do not.[48][261][243]
Some Christian denominations, such as Anabaptist Churches and Orthodox Churches, view Christian headcovering as a practice that Paul intended for all Christians, in all locations, during all time periods and so they continue the practice within their congregations. This view was taught by the early Church Fathers and held universally by undivided Christianity for several centuries afterward.[35][2] This historic interpretation is linked with the God-ordained order of headship.[262]Conservative Anabaptists and Old Order Anabaptists hold that because "the testimony of headship and the angels apply to all times of the believer's life, not only church services", in addition to biblical injunctions to "pray often, even continually (Acts 6:3–4, 6; 12:5; Romans 1:8–10; Ephesians 1:15–19; 6:18–20; Colossians 1:3–4; 5:17; 2 Timothy 1:3–6)", women are called to wear the headcovering throughout the day.[68] Sociologist Cory Anderson stated that for those Christian women who continually wear it, the headcovering serves as an outward testimony that often allows for evangelism.[68]
A modern interpretation is that Paul's commands regarding headcovering were a cultural mandate that was only for the 1st-century Corinthian church. This view states that Paul was simply trying to create a distinction between uncovered Corinthian prostitutes and godly Corinthian Christian women, and that in the modern era, headcoverings are not necessary within a church.[48] Church historian David Bercot criticizes this view as early Church writings do not evidence this reasoning.[48]
A recent interpretation, first formulated in 1965 by the Scandinavian theologian Abel Isaakson, purports that Paul stated that the "hair" (specifically "long hair") is the sole covering mentioned in the entire passage; 1 Corinthians 11:15 (NRSV) reads "but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering."[263][264][35][178] However, some have taken issue with the fact that the Greek word used for covering in verse 15 (περιβόλαιον) is a different word than the form of the word used for veiling/covering in verses 5–7 and 13 (κατακαλύπτω), the latter of which means "to cover wholly" or "to veil".[36][238][236][239][265]Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) John W. Keddie contended that if hair was the covering Paul was talking about, then verse 6 would read "For if the women have no hair on her head, let her also be shorn", rendering the passage to be nonsensical.[36][264]
Legal issues
In the United States, an Alabama resident Yvonne Allen, in 2016, filed a complaint with the federal court after being forced to remove her headscarf for her driver's license photograph.[266][267] Allen characterized herself as a "devout Christian woman whose faith compels her to cover her hair in public."[266][268] In Allen v. English, et al., Lee County was accused of violating the Establishment Clause and a settlement was negotiated that gave "Allen a new driver’s license with her head covering".[269]
The First Epistle to the Corinthians is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in Corinth. Despite the name, it is not believed to be the first such letter. Scholars believe that Sosthenes was the amanuensis who wrote down the text of the letter at Paul's direction. It addresses various issues that had arisen in the Christian community at Corinth and is composed in a form of Koine Greek.
In modern usage, hijab generally refers to variety of head coverings conventionally worn by many religious Muslim women as an expression of faith. Such women may be called "hijabi". Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain headcoverings worn by some Christian women, such as the hanging veil, apostolnik and kapp, and the dupatta favored by many Hindu and Sikh women, the hijab comes in various forms. Often, it specifically describes a scarf that is wrapped around the head, covering the hair, neck, and ears while leaving the face visible. The use of the hijab has grown globally since the 1970s, with many Muslims viewing it as a symbol of modesty and faith; it is also worn as a form of adornment. There is consensus among Islamic religious scholars that covering the head is either required or preferred. In practice, most Muslim women choose to wear it.
A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent in different forms in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The practice of veiling is especially associated with women and sacred objects, though in some cultures, it is men, rather than women, who are expected to wear a veil. Besides its enduring religious significance, veiling continues to play a role in some modern secular contexts, such as wedding customs.
Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word modesty comes from the Latin word modestus which means 'keeping within measure'.
Anabaptist theology, also known as Anabaptist doctrine, is a theological tradition reflecting the doctrine of the Anabaptist Churches. The major branches of Anabaptist Christianity agree on core doctrines but have nuances in practice. While the adherence to doctrine is important in Anabaptist Christianity, living righteously is stressed to a greater degree.
Tzniut describes the character trait of modesty and discretion, as well as a group of Jewish laws pertaining to conduct. The concept is most important within Orthodox Judaism.
A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is covered.
A mantilla is a traditional female liturgical lace or silk veil or shawl worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high hair ornament called a peineta, particularly popular with women in Spain and Latin America. It is also worn by Catholic and Plymouth Brethren women around the world, Mennonite women in Argentina, and without the peineta by Eastern Orthodox women in Russia. When worn by Eastern Orthodox women the mantilla is often white, and is worn with the ends crossed over the neck and draped over the opposite shoulder. The mantilla is worn as a Christian headcovering by women during church services, as well as during special occasions. A smaller version of the mantilla is called a toquilla.
A head tie, also known as a headwrap, is a women's cloth head scarf that is commonly worn in many parts of West Africa and Southern Africa. The head tie is used as an ornamental head covering or fashion accessory, or for functionality in different settings. Its use or meaning can vary depending on the country and/or religion of those who wear it. Among Jewish women, the Biblical source for covering hair comes from the Torah in the book of Bamidbar Parshas Nasso which contains the source for the obligation of a married woman to cover her hair. An eesha sotah is a woman whose husband suspects her of having acted immorally. The Torah commands the Kohein to take various steps to demonstrate that the sotah has deviated from the modest and loyal path of most married Jewish women. Among the procedures, the pasuk clearly states: "ufora es rosh haisha..."and he shall uncover the hair of the head of the woman (5:18). One can only uncover something that has previously been covered; in this case the Torah is referring to the married woman's hair. Among Christian women in certain parts of the world, such as Africa and the Caribbean, the head tie is worn as a headcovering in obedience to 1 Corinthians 11:4–13.
Outward holiness, or external holiness, is a Wesleyan–Arminian doctrine emphasizing holy living, service, modest dress and sober speech. Additionally, outward holiness manifests as "the expression of love through a life characterised by 'justice, mercy and truth'". It is a testimony of a Christian believer's regeneration, done in obedience to God. The doctrine is prevalent among denominations emerging during the revival movements, including the Methodists, as well as Pentecostals. It is taken from 1 Peter 1:15: "He which hath called you is Holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation".
According to halacha, married Jewish women are expected to cover their hair when in the presence of men other than their husband or close family members. Such covering is common practice among Orthodox Jewish women.
Many Christians have followed certain dress codes during attendance at church. Customs have varied over time and among different Christian denominations. As with the Bible, the Church Fathers of Christianity taught modesty as a core principle guiding the clothing that Christians are to manufacture and wear.
Western dress codes are a set of dress codes detailing what clothes are worn for what occasion that originated in Western Europe and the United States in the 19th century. Conversely, since most cultures have intuitively applied some level equivalent to the more formal Western dress code traditions, these dress codes are simply a versatile framework, open to amalgamation of international and local customs. This versatility has made this scale of formality a practical international formality scale.
Plain dress is a practice among some religious groups, primarily some Christian churches in which people dress in clothes of traditional modest design, sturdy fabric, and conservative cut. It is intended to show acceptance of traditional gender roles, modesty, and readiness to work and serve, and to preserve communal identity and separation from the ever-changing fashions of the world. For men, this often takes the form of trousers secured by suspenders, while for women, plain dress usually takes the form of a cape dress along with a headcovering.
The Agpeya is the Coptic Christian "Prayer Book of the Hours" or breviary, and is equivalent to the Shehimo in the Syriac Orthodox Church, as well as the Byzantine Horologion and Roman Liturgy of the Hours used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church, respectively. The Agpeya prayers are popular Christian prayers recited at fixed prayer times, facing the east by both individuals and families at home seven times a day, as well as for communal prayers as an introduction to Mass at church; this Christian practice has its roots in Psalm 119:164, in which the prophet David prays to God seven times a day. The vast majority of the Coptic Christians learn the recitation and prayers of the Agpeya at an early age as children at home from their families. The Coptic Orthodox cycle of canonical hours is primarily composed of psalm readings from the Old Testament and gospel readings from the New Testament, with some added hymns of praise, troparia, and other prayers.
The relationship between Paul the Apostle and women is an important element in the theological debate about Christianity and women because Paul was the first writer to give ecclesiastical directives about the role of women in the Church. However, there are arguments that some of these writings are post-Pauline interpolations.
Headgear, headwear, or headdress is any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, decoration, or for religious or cultural reasons, including social conventions.
A church crown, also known as a church hat, is a decorative hat worn by women in the Southern United States as a headcovering during Christian church services in accordance with 1 Corinthians 11:2–13. Though church crowns were common among all American women until the mid-20th century, they continue to be worn in certain denominations that teach the historic practice of Christian headcovering, such as the Free Presbyterian Church and Plymouth Brethren, as well as in the black church. The practice of women wearing a headcovering, found in the Bible, "has been adapted and expanded to become a stylish part of Southern women’s churchgoing attire."
A kapp is a Christian headcovering worn by many women of certain Anabaptist Christian denominations, as well as certain Conservative Friends and Plain Catholics, in obedience to Paul the Apostle's command in 1 Corinthians 11:2–10.
A hanging veil, also known as a flowing veil or charity veil, is a type of Christian headcovering, which is worn by some Christian women continually, in obedience to Paul the Apostle's command in 1 Corinthians 11:2–10. Hanging veils enjoy popularity in a diverse array of Christian denominations, especially those of the Anabaptist Christian tradition. In certain Conservative Mennonite Anabaptist congregationations of the Beachy Amish Mennonite tradition, an opaque hanging veil is permitted as an alternative to the kapp if it covers as much or more hair as the kapp, which traditionally is "of ample size to cover most of the hair". Opaque hanging veils are usually white or black in colour for modesty. Hanging veils are designed to drape over the natural curves of a woman's head and hang down a woman's neck. Certain denominations of Christianity provide guidelines regarding the headcovering; the Ministry Training Center of the Biblical Mennonite Alliance, for example, teaches:
A veiling shall be worn by the sisters. We believe the best application of the headship principle as taught in I Corinthians 11 is for the veiling to be worn as a part of their regular attire to cover hair that is allowed to grow to its natural length. Ladies shall wear all their hair neatly up, avoiding fashion extremes, covered with a hanging veil, scarf, or traditional Mennonite covering of sufficient size to substantially cover the hair. Hanging veils and scarves must cover at least from the crown of the head to the bottom of the hair bun.
References
Notes
↑ The First Epistle to the Corinthians, authored by Saint Paul, is addressed to "... all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours" (see 1 Corinthians 1:1–3). Jesus is Lord is the first creed of Christianity,[13] and by addressing those who affirm it, Saint Paul is addressing the universal Church everywhere, not just the local church in Corinth.[14] Likewise, 1 Corinthians 1:16 concludes Saint Paul's instructions on Christian headcovering: "But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God's other churches."[15][16]Biblical language scholar Michael Marlowe cites 1 Corinthians 14:37 to demonstrate that the Paul the Apostle taught the traditions he delivered, such as headcovering with a cloth veil, "are a commandment of the Lord" to be followed by those who are "spiritual".[15]
↑ Anabaptist Churches include the Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, Bruderhof, Schwarzenau Brethren, River Brethren and Apostolic Christians, as well as other smaller denominations.[26][27][28] This traditional Anabaptist viewpoint is explicated by expositor Daniel Willis, who cites the Early Church Father John Chrysostom's explication of Saint Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 11 as the basis for continual headcovering (during worship and in public) among women, particularly Saint Paul's assertion that women being unveiled is dishonourable and by consequence, Christian women should cover their heads with a veil continually.[29] Merle Ruth in The Significance of the Christian Woman’s Veiling states that Anabaptist doctrine holds that the biblical "clause [authored by Saint Paul] 'Let her be covered' is the present, active, imperative form, which gives the meaning, 'Let her continue to be veiled.'"[30] To this end, Anabaptists of the Conservative Mennonite and Dunkard Brethren traditions hold headcovering to be among the ordinances of the Church.[4][31]Conservative Friends follow the same practice of wearing a headcovering during worship and when outside the home.[32] In Oriental Orthodox Christian and Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches, certain theologians teach the same doctrine that it is "expected of all women to be covered not only during liturgical periods of prayer, but at all times, for this was their honor and sign of authority given by our Lord",[5] while other clerics have held that headcovering should at least be done during prayer and worship.[6]
↑ Writing on the practice of the pagan Greek customs (that surrounded the Corinthian church there), the Early Church Father John Chrysostom (c.347–407) stated: "Their women used both to pray and prophesy unveiled, and with their head bare, (for then women also used to prophesy;) but the men went so far as to wear long hair, as having spent their time in philosophy, and covered their heads when praying and prophesying, each of which was a Grecian custom."[64]
1 2 3 4 5 6 Gordon, Greg (31 August 2015). "Are Head Coverings Really for Today?". Evangelical Focus. Retrieved 2 May 2022. Hippolytus an early Church Father wrote, 'Let all the women have their heads covered.' Others who taught this practice in the Church were, John Calvin [father of the Reformed tradition], Martin Luther [father of the Lutheran tradition], Early Church Fathers, John Wesley [father of the Methodist tradition], Matthew Henry [Presbyterian theologian] to name just a few. We must remind ourselves that until the twentieth century, virtually all Christian women wore head coverings.
1 2 3 4 5 Hartzler, Rachel Nafziger (2013). No Strings Attached: Boundary Lines in Pleasant Places: A History of Warren Street / Pleasant Oaks Mennonite Church. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN978-1-62189-635-7.
1 2 Arquilevich, Gabriel (1995). World Religions. Teacher Created Resources. p.35. ISBN978-1-55734-624-7. The origins of the veil go back to the matriarch Rebekah, who, when she saw Isaac for the first time, 'took her veil and covered her face.' (Genesis 24:65). The veil is symbolic of Jewish traditions of modesty.
1 2 The Complete Works of St. Ambrose. Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing. 2021. Was it a small sign of modesty that when Rebecca came to wed Isaac, and saw her bridegroom, she took a veil, [Genesis 24:65] that she might not be seen before they were united? Certainly the fair virgin feared not for her beauty, but for her modesty.
1 2 3 Gibson, Margaret Dunlop (1903). The Didascalia Apostolorum in English. C.J. Clay. pp.9–10.
↑ Adams, Edward (2013). The Earliest Christian Meeting Places: Almost Exclusively Houses?. A&C Black. p.81. ISBN978-0-567-15732-4.
↑ Harn, Roger van (2004). Exploring and Proclaiming the Apostles' Creed. A&C Black. p.58. ISBN9780819281166.
↑ Lee, Witness (1990). Life-Study of 1 Corinthians: Messages 1–23. Living Stream Ministry. p.14. ISBN978-0-87083-140-9. In verse 2 Paul also says, "With all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theires and ours." Notice that here he does not say "and all those," but with all those." This indicates that a local church, like the church in Corinth, is composed only of those believers in that locality, not of all believers in every place. It also indicates that this Epistle was intended not only for the believers in that one church in Corinth, but for all believers in every place. First Corinthians is for all believers of whatever place and time.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Marlowe, Michael D. "The Woman's Headcovering". Bible Research. Retrieved 27 April 2022. 16But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. He thus brings the matter to a conclusion. In addition to the theological and moral reasons for the headcovering, there is also the fact that if the Corinthians were to allow their women to remove the headcovering, this new practice or custom (συνήθειαν) would go against the established custom of Paul and his fellow-workers, the custom which was observed in all the other churches, and which he has delivered to them as one of the παραδόσεις "traditional practices" of the faith (verse 2) ... Paul has devoted some time to this subject because it is important to him, not a matter of indifference; and it makes little sense to speak of a custom of being contentious (φιλόνεικος, lit. "loving strife"), because contentiousness is an attitude or temper, not a custom. There is a good parallel to Paul's usage of the word φιλόνεικος in Josephus' work Against Apion. Josephus concludes a series of arguments with the sentence, "I suppose that what I have already said may be sufficient to such as are not very contentious (φιλόνεικος)," (19) and then he continues with even stronger arguments for those who are very contentious. In the same way, Paul reserves the clinching argument for the end. It is an argument from authority. The headcovering practice is a matter of apostolic authority and tradition, and not open to debate. His concluding rebuke of the contentious people in Corinth is meant to cut off debate and settle the issue, not to leave it open. It is quite wrong to say of this last argument of Paul's that "in the end he admits" that he was merely "rationalizing the customs in which he believes," (20) as if Paul himself put little store by custom. Rather, Paul considers this to be his strongest point. At the end he harks back to the words with which he opened the subject ("maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you" in verse 2), and the whole section is thus framed between explicit invocations of tradition.
↑ Gordon, Greg (31 August 2015). "Are Head Coverings Really for Today?". Evangelical Focus. Retrieved 2 May 2022. Clement of Rome in AD 96 said, "Then let us gather together in awareness of our concord" speaking of the holy angels when we worship. The Church is to gather and worship God in the Spirit (John 4:24) doing things that the world considers foolish but for the Lord there is great significance. Paul speaking as inspired by the Holy Spirit said, "We have no other practice – nor do the churches of God" (1 Corinthians 11:16). It was not just a local custom or practice but all the Churches were practicing this as they were practicing water Baptism and Holy Communion. This was not an optional thing as the default was all the Churches were doing it. It is interesting that the same apostle who warns against legalism and exhorts us to walk in the Spirit is the very same apostle who says, "If a woman does not cover her head, she should cut off her hair ..."
1 2 3 Payne, Philip Barton (2015). Man and Woman, One in Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Paul's Letters. Zondervan Academic. ISBN978-0-310-52532-5. Furthermore, Greek women, including women in prayer, were usually depicted without a garment covering the head. It does not make sense that Paul would assert something was disgraceful that in their culture was not considered disgraceful. Concerning Greek customs A. Oepke observes: ... It is quite wrong [to assert] that Greek women were under some kind of compulsion to wear a veil. ... Passages to the contrary are so numerous and unequivocally that they cannot be offset. ...Empresses and goddesses, even those who maintain their dignity, like Hera and Demeter, are portrayed without veils.
1 2 3 4 5 "The Head Covering or Prayer Veil: 1 Corinthians 11:1–16". Scroll Publishing Company. Retrieved 5 April 2022. Around the year 200, at Carthage, North Africa, Tertullian wrote a tract entitled, "The Veiling of Virgins." Tertullian makes the argument that the passage applies to all females of age – not just to married women. ... Earlier in his tract, Tertullian testified that the churches that were founded by the apostles did insist that both their married women and their virgins be veiled: Throughout Greece, and certain of its barbaric provinces, the majority of churches keep their virgins covered. In fact, this practice is followed in certain places beneath this African sky. So let no one ascribe this custom merely to the Gentile customs of the Greeks and barbarians. Moreover, I will put forth as models those churches that were founded by either apostles or apostolic men. ... The Corinthians themselves understood him to speak in this manner. For to this very day the Corinthians veil their virgins. What the apostles taught, the disciples of the apostles confirmed. [Tertullian, The Veiling of Virgins The Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 4 pp. 27–29, 33] ... In summary, the early Christians practiced exactly what 1 Cor. 11 says: Men prayed with their heads uncovered. Women prayed with their heads veiled. Nobody disputed this – regardless of where they lived – Europe, Mid-East, North Africa, or the Far East. This written evidence of the course of performance of the early Christians is corroborated by the archaeological record. The pictures we have from the second and third centuries from the catacombs and other places depict Christian women praying with a cloth veil on their heads. Some of those pictures are shown below. So the historical record is crystal clear. It reveals that the early generation of believers understood the head covering to be a cloth veil – not long hair. As Tertullian indicated, even the women who did not wish to follow Paul's teaching were not claiming that Paul was talking about long hair. Rather, they simply wore a small cloth in minimal obedience to his teaching. Nobody in the early Church claimed that Paul's instructions were merely a concession to Greek culture. Nobody claimed that they had anything to do with prostitutes or pagan priestesses.
1 2 Phillips, David (2014). Headcovering Throughout Christian History: The Church's Response to 1 Corinthians 11:2–16. Lockman Foundation. As Paul's instructions were counter-cultural, this passage is "a remarkable proof of the Apostle's courage and honesty." Paul teaches that going without a headcovering means a loss of "dignity, power, and grace, which God had given to women, especially under the Gospel." The idea that "a woman who casts off the covering of her head, casts off her dignity ... involves a moral truth ... Thus the divine Apostle has left a lesson to women in every age." Beyond the practice of the local Corinthian church, the author cites Early Church writers on this topic. He also notes that "the Apostolic Constitutions [4th century AD] ... expressly commanded that the women should have their heads covered in the Church."
1 2 Ben Witherington III (1995). Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp.235–38. ISBN978-0-8028-0144-9. Paul is not simply endorsing standard Roman or even Greco-Roman customs in Corinth. Paul was about the business of reforming his converts' social assumptions and conventions in the context of the Christian community. They were to model new Christian customs, common in the assemblies of God but uncommon in the culture, thus staking out their own sense of a unique identity. ...In light of Roman practice, it is very believable that some Christian Roman males were covering their heads when they were about to pray or prophesy. Paul is not interested in baptizing the status quo or normal Roman practice. He is setting up new customs for a new community, and these customs are deeply grounded in his theological understanding of creation, redemption, their interrelation, and how they should be manifested in worship.
↑ "On Head Coverings". Classical Christianity. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2022. And let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering. (Apostolic Tradition Part II.18)
1 2 3 Almila, Anna-Mari; Almila, David (2017). The Routledge International Handbook to Veils and Veiling. Taylor & Francis. p.296. ISBN978-1-317-04114-6. Amish women who wear it at all times except when sleeping. This is based on the notion that women should 'pray without ceasing'.
1 2 3 4 Schaff, Philip (1889). A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church: St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians. The Christian Literature Company. p.152. Well then: the man he compelleth not to be always uncovered, but only when he prays. "For every man," saith he, "praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head." But the woman he commands to be at all times covered. Wherefore also having said, "Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head unveiled, dishonoureth her head," he stayed not at this point only, but also proceeded to say, "for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven." But if to be shaven is always dishonourable, it is plain too that being uncovered is always a reproach. And not even with this only was he content, but he added again, saying, "The woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels". He signifies that not only at the time of prayer, but also continually, she ought to be covered. But with regard to the man, it is no longer about covering but about wearing long hair, that he so forms his discourse. To be covered he then only forbids, when a man is praying; but the wearing of long hair he discourages at all times.
↑ Hole, Frank Binford. "F. B. Hole's Old and New Testament Commentary". StudyLight. Retrieved 6 February 2016. There is no contradiction between 1 Corinthians 11:5 of our chapter and 1 Corinthians 14:34, for the simple reason that there speaking in the assembly is in question, whereas in our chapter the assembly does not come into view until verse 1 Corinthians 11:17 is reached. Only then do we begin to consider things that may happen when we "come together." The praying or prophesying contemplated in verse 1 Corinthians 11:5 is not in connection with the formal assemblies of God's saints.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Bercot, David W. (1992). Common Sense: A New Approach to Understanding Scripture. Scroll Publishing Co. p.68. ISBN978-0-924722-06-6. The historical evidence is strikingly clear. The record reveals that the early churches all understood Paul to be talking about a cloth veil, not long hair. ... Hippolytus, a leader in the church in Rome around the year 200, compiled a record of the various customs and practices in that church from the generations that preceded him. His Apostolic Tradition contains this statement: "And let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering." This written evidence of the course of performance of the early Christians is corroborated by the archaeological record. The pictures we have from the second and third centuries from the catacombs and other places depict Christian women praying with a cloth veil on their heads. So the historical record is crystal clear. It reveals that the early generation of believers understood the head covering to be a cloth veil – not long hair.
1 2 3 4 5 Lee, Allan R. (2018). The Local Church Today and Tomorrow: A Back to the Future Handbook on New Testament Principles. WestBow Press. ISBN978-1-9736-1615-3. Nature itself is therefore a divine confirmation of the constitutional sense of the impropriety of women appearing in the assembly without a head covering (v. 13). The words "for her long hair is given to her as a covering" (v. 15) "do not mean that the woman's hair is her covering and that she needs no veil, a view vitiating the force of 11:2–14." For example, if hair were the only covering referred to in this passage (11:1-16), then verse 6 would have to be translated "If a woman does not wear her hair, she should have to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should wear her hair," which is quite ludicrous. Two coverings are spoken of in the passage. This is established by the fact that two different Greek words ...
1 2 Bernard, David (1985). Practical Holiness. Word Aflame Press.
1 2 "Veil". Early Christian Dictionary. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
↑ Earle, Alice Morse (1903). Two Centuries of Costume in America, Vol. 2 (1620–1820). The Macmillan Company. p.582. One singular thing may be noted in this history, – that with all the vagaries of fashion, woman has never violated the Biblical law that bade her cover her head. She has never gone to church services bareheaded.
1 2 3 4 5 Walsh, Harper (2019). Saudi Arabia Undercover: Includes Bahrain, Bangkok and Cairo. Monsoon Books. ISBN978-1-912049-61-5. There are Christian women in the Middle East who cover their hair and heads daily. Some wear burkas too.
1 2 3 "Cross-Cultural Head Coverings"(PDF). University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 2020. p.3. Retrieved 9 March 2024. Mantillas are still worn by many Spanish and Latina women during religious ceremonies, and many Christian women in India still cover their heads with a veil, scarf, shawl or the end of a sari during religious services.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Zăhăleanu, Daria (3 September 2017). "The Batik: Between Tradition And Feminism". The Gazelle. Retrieved 1 February 2024. For elderly women in a more conservative orthodox region in the Eastern part of Romania, called Moldova, or Western Moldavia, the batik is a sign of modesty and keeping up tradition. It is said to be the umbrella of God upon them, a piece of clothing that connects them with divinity. Women don't need to worry about the way they arrange their hair, a mundane practice that would distance them from God. When I asked women in Moldova if they would go bareheaded if they had the choice, most of them refused to imagine this. Even today, the picture of bareheaded women is not accepted in the region of Moldova. The Western model of showing your hair, which is promoted by media, is associated with vanity.
1 2 3 Pierce, Ronald W.; Groothuis, Rebecca Merrill; Fee, Gordon D. (2005). Discovering Biblical Equality. InterVarsity Press. p.362. ISBN978-0-8308-2834-0. In the contemporary world such head coverings (whatever they were in fact) have little to no social significance. Thus this is rightly understood to be a cultural issue and a matter of personal choice for a believer today.
1 2 3 4 Gordon, Greg (31 August 2015). "Are Head Coverings Really for Today?". Evangelical Focus. Retrieved 2 May 2022. One of the most questioned practices in the New Testament in the modern day Western Church is the practice of Head Coverings for women. Yet to get perspective we need to look over the panoply of God's Church for 2000 years and see that this is not something new but old – and has been practiced diligently over the ages. It is hard to imagine but since the 1960s the Church almost entirely practiced this tradition. The influence of secular reasoning, feminism and liberal theology have led to the questioning and, ultimately, the casting aside of this practice in the Church at large in the evangelical world.
1 2 3 4 Bercot, David W. (1992). Common Sense: A New Approach to Understanding Scripture. Scroll Publishing Co. p.58. ISBN978-0-924722-06-6. ... one of the popular understandings today of 1 Corinthians 11 is that this was simply a first century cultural problem. Paul gave his instruction about the head covering because prostitutes didn't wear headcoverings, and if the Christian women weren't veiled, they would be thought of as prostitutes. ... Yet, it is not based on any historical evidence whatsoever from the writings of the early Church. It is someone's sheer conjecture.
↑ Barash, Nechama Goldman (18 June 2022). "Women, hair covering and sotah". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 14 October 2022. In its ensuing discussion of the Mishnah, the Talmud asserts unequivocally that going out bareheaded violates biblical law. In Ketubot 72a, it states, "And who is considered a woman who violates dat yehudit? One who goes out and her head is uncovered." The Talmud asks, "The prohibition against a woman going out with her head uncovered is not merely a custom of Jewish women. Rather, it is by Torah law, as it is written, 'And he shall uncover the head of the woman'" (Numbers 5:18). The biblical verse cited as textual support for hair coverings is found in the Talmud in the context of a woman accused by her husband of adultery without the support of witnesses. In rabbinic texts, such a woman is referred to as a sotah (one who goes astray) and this is the common term used to reference the biblical text, as well. There is no certain way to determine whether this woman has sinned or whether her husband has been overcome by jealousy. Given the severity of the accusation and the lack of evidence, the woman is brought before the High Priest to undergo a ritual that will establish her guilt or her innocence. One of the steps involves a ritual that uncovers her head or dishevels her hair. In Numbers 5:18, it says, "After he has made the woman stand before the Lord, the priest shall uncover/dishevel/unbind the woman's head and place upon her hands the meal offering of remembrance, which is a meal offering of jealousy. And in the priest's hands shall be the water of bitterness that induces the spell."
↑ "Ketubot 72a–72b". The William Davidson Talmud (Koren – Steinsaltz). Sefaria. The mishna stated: And who is considered a woman who violates the precepts of Jewish women? One who goes out and her head is uncovered. The Gemara asks: The prohibition against a woman going out with her head uncovered is not merely a custom of Jewish women. Rather, it is by Torah law, as it is written with regard to a woman suspected by her husband of having been unfaithful: "And he shall uncover the head of the woman" (Numbers 5:18). And the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: From here there is a warning to Jewish women not to go out with an uncovered head, since if the Torah states that a woman suspected of adultery must have her head uncovered, this indicates that a married woman must generally cover her head. The Gemara explains: By Torah law, if she covers her head with her basket [kilta], it seems well and is sufficient. But by precepts of Jewish women, i.e., custom, even if her head is covered by her basket this is also prohibited; she requires a substantial head covering.
↑ Baskin, Judith R. "Covering of the Head". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 6 March 2022. In biblical times, women covered their heads with veils or scarves. The unveiling of a woman's hair was considered a humiliation and punishment (Isa. 3:17; cf. Num. 5:18 on the loosening of the hair of a woman suspected of adultery; III Macc. 4:6; and Sus. 32).
1 2 Budin, Stephanie Lynn; Turfa, Jean Macintosh (2016). Women in Antiquity: Real Women across the Ancient World. Routledge. ISBN978-1-317-21990-3. Megan Cifarelli has argued that the raised skirts and uncovered heads of women captives (e.g., Cifarelli 1998:220, fig. 17; see also Marcus 1995: Pl. VI and King 1915: Plates XXIII and L) would have signalled their immodesty and sexual availability, which in turn would have indicated their humiliation and debasement (Cifarelli 1998: 221–22; cf. Marcus 1995:202). She points to Isaiah 47:1–3's image of dethroned daughter Babylon removing her veil, hiking up her skirts, and revealing her legs as indicative of the nakedness and shame the text attributes to this figure, and notes the roles played in Assyrian law of shortening or removing women's clothing.
1 2 Ellinson, G. (1992). Women and Mitzvot: The Modest Way. Feldheim Publishers. p.205. ISBN978-1-58330-148-7.
↑ Weitz, Rose (2005). Rapunzel's Daughters: What Women's Hair Tells Us About Women's Lives. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p.20. ISBN9781429931137. The Hebrew word for bride, kalah, derives from a word meaning "to cover," and the Latin word for "to marry" – nubere, the source of the English word "nuptials" – literally means to veil, as clouds (nubes) cover the sky. Following the same logic, by the time of Jesus, Jewish law permitted a man to divorce a woman by uncovering her hair. In addition, if a woman ever uncovered her own hair in public, the law took this as evidence of her infidelity and permitted her husband to divorce her without returning her dowry or paying her alimony. For centuries thereafter, Christian and Jewish married women throoughout most of Europe wore their hair long, bound, and covered. Most Muslim cultures, which share some of their roots with Christianity and Judaism, still require women to wear veils outside the home.
↑ Milliken, Roberta (2020). A Cultural History of Hair in the Middle Ages. Bloomsbury Publishing. p.54. ISBN978-1-350-10303-0.
↑ Salisbury, Joyce E. (1992). Church Fathers, Independent Virgins. Verso. p.24. ISBN978-0-86091-596-6.
1 2 Phillips, David (2014). Headcovering Throughout Christian History: The Church's Response to 1 Corinthians 11:2–16. Lockman.
↑ Hippolytus, and Easton, B. (1934). The Apostolic tradition of Hippolytus. New York: Macmillan, p. 43.
1 2 Bercot, David W. (1992). Common Sense: A New Approach to Understanding Scripture. Scroll Publishing Co. p.66. ISBN978-0-924722-06-6.
1 2 "On Head Coverings". Classical Christianity. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
↑ Clement of Alexandria. (1885). The Instructor. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria (Entire) (Vol. 2, p. 290). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
↑ Fragment from the Books of the Hypotyposes in Oecumenius from Book III. On 1 Corinthians 11:10.
1 2 3 4 5 Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1842). A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, Anterior to the Division of the East and West. J.H. Parker. pp.349, 357.
↑ Daniel-Hughes, C. (2011). The Salvation of the Flesh in Tertullian of Carthage: Dressing for the Resurrection. Springer. ISBN978-0-230-33807-4.
↑ Shank, Tom (1992). "...Let Her Be Veiled.": An in-depth study of 1 Corinthians 11:1–16. Eureka: Torch Publications. p.8. The [male] Jews of this era worshipped and prayed with a covering called a tallith on their heads.
↑ Geoffrey D. Dunn. Rhetoric and Tertullian's 'De virginibus velandis' . Centre for Early Christian Studies, Brisbane, 2005
1 2 3 4 5 6 Anderson, Cory A. (2013). The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change. Stoneboro: Ridgeway Publishing. pp.14–21, 29–30, 85.
↑ Tertullian. (1885). On the Veiling of Virgins. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), S. Thelwall (Trans.), Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second (Vol. 4, p. 33). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
↑ Johnson, Lewis (1962). The Wycliffe Bible Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press. pp.1247–1248.
1 2 3 "On Account of the Angels: Why I Cover My Head". Orthodox Christian Information Center. Retrieved 8 April 2022. St. John Chrysostom thought that Paul, in admonishing women to wear a covering "because of the angels", meant it "not at the time of prayer only, but also continually, she ought to be covered." Fr. Rhodes agrees: "The veil can be the constant symbol of the true woman of God ... a way of life ... a testimony of faith and of the salvation of God, not only before men, but angels as well."
↑ L. Kovacs, Judith (2005). The Church's Bible (1 Corinthians). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p.180.
↑ Jerome. (1893). The Letters of St. Jerome. In P. Schaff & H. Wace (Eds.), W. H. Fremantle, G. Lewis, & W. G. Martley (Trans.), St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works (Vol. 6, p. 292). New York: Christian Literature Company.
↑ Augustine of Hippo. (1886). Letters of St. Augustin. In P. Schaff (Ed.), J. G. Cunningham (Trans.), The Confessions and Letters of St. Augustin with a Sketch of His Life and Work (Vol. 1, p. 588). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
1 2 Hunt, Margaret (2014). Women in Eighteenth Century Europe. Taylor & Francis. p.58. ISBN9781317883876. Today many people associate rules about veiling and headscarves with the Muslim world, but in the eighteenth century they were common among Christians as well, in line with 1 Corinthians 11:4-13 which appears not only to prescribe headcoverings for any women who prays or goes to church, but explicitly to associate it with female subordination, which Islamic veiling traditions do not typically do. Many Christian women wore a head-covering all the time, and certainly when they went outside; those who did not would have been barred from church and likely harassed on the street. ... Veils were, of course, required for Catholic nuns, and a veil that actually obscured the face was also a mark of elite status throughout most of Europe. Spanish noblewomen wore them well into the eighteenth century, and so did Venetian women, both elites and non-elites. Across Europe almost any woman who could afford them also wore them to travel.
1 2 Anderson, Cory; Anderson, Jennifer (2019). Fitted to Holiness: How Modesty is Achieved and Compromised among the Plain People. Millersburg: Acorn Publishing. p.129. Throughout the nineteenth century, hats were a cultural necessity; women were never seen in public without one. Up until World War I, a woman slipped on a white cap immediately upon arising, unless she was in mourning, and some type of hat or bonnet was worn every time she left the house.
↑ Balzani, Marzia; Besnier, Niko (2021). Social and Cultural Anthropology for the 21st Century: Connected Worlds. Routledge. ISBN978-1-317-57178-0. Head covers are generally associated with Islam, but until recently Christian women in Mediterranean countries also covered their heads in public, and some still do, particularly in religious contexts such as attending mass.
↑ Hammond, Laura C. (2018). This Place Will Become Home: Refugee Repatriation to Ethiopia. Cornell University Press. p.92. ISBN978-1-5017-2725-2. Inside her house a Christian woman usually did not cover hear head and only wore a netsela (ነጠላ, a shawl made from white, usually homespun cotton and often with a colorful banner woven into its edges) when working in the sun or going out of her compound.
↑ Ramdin, Ron (2000). Arising from Bondage: A History of the Indo-Caribbean People. New York University Press. p.222. ISBN978-0-8147-7548-6. As a mark of respect, Indian women were expected to cover their heads. And over the years, most rural Hindu, Muslim and Christian women have done so with the Orhni, a thin shawl-like head covering.
1 2 Toops, Stanley W.; Peterson, Mark Allen; Anderson, Sheldon (2018). International Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Issues. Routledge. ISBN978-0-429-97478-6. In European history, Christian women wore veils or other head coverings in church, in accordance with a biblical injunction (1 Corinthians 11:4–10).
↑ Safran, Linda (2014). The Medieval Salento: Art and Identity in Southern Italy. University of Pennsylvania Press. p.112. ISBN9780812245547.
↑ Evans, Hilary; Bartholomew, Robert E. (2009). Outbreak!: The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior. Anomalist Books. p.33. ISBN978-1-933665-25-2.
1 2 3 4 Mitchell, Laurence (2007). Serbia. Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN978-1-84162-203-3. Further north, in Vojvodina, some older Slovak women still regularly wear the headscarf, pleated skirt and embroidered apron that is their national dress. All across Serbia, as elsewhere in eastern Europe, many older women wear headscarves
1 2 Mingus, Elaine (19 May 2015). "Christian Headcovering in India". The Head Covering Movement. There were many times that a woman would be called into prayer while preparing a meal. Instead of running to get a head scarf, she would grab a readily available dish towel to cover her head instead.
↑ Fischer-Mirkin, Toby (1995). Dress Code: Understanding the Hidden Meanings of Women's Clothes. Clarkson Potter Publishers. p.241. ISBN978-0-517-59329-5.
1 2 3 4 5 Williams, Paul K. (2005). The Head Coverings of I Corinthians 11. pp.6–10.
↑ Mooney, Myron (18 May 2020). "Head Covering: A Forgotten Christian Practice for Modern Times". Free Presbyterian Church of North America. Retrieved 26 February 2023. The National Organization of Women (NOW) was founded and presided over by Betty Friedan. ... In 1968, as an agnostic activist, Friedan led her organization in a nationwide hat burning event. They touted the event's purpose, "To protest the second-class status of women in all churches. Because the wearing of a head covering by women at religious services is a symbol of submission" (p 16).
↑ "'Exhibitionism'". Milwaukee Sentinel. April 14, 1969. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
↑ Tomlinson, Heather (7 October 2014). "My Headcovering Experiment". Premier Christian Radio. Retrieved 10 April 2022. Recently, there has been a head covering revival in certain wings of the US Church: especially the ultra-reformed and those calling themselves 'Torah-observant'. Lobbying in favour of the practice is The Head Covering Movement, set up last year by a man called Jeremy Gardiner, who cites the theologically conservative Gospel Coalition in his profession of faith. The movement's website features personal stories of women who are usually the only head coverers in their churches, as well as arguments from scripture to support the practice. It cites Martin Luther, William Tyndale and Thomas Aquinas, among others.
1 2 3 Harmon, Katharine E. (25 October 2018). "Fashion Trend Alert: Chapel Veils are Back!". PrayTellBlog. Retrieved 10 April 2022. In turn, the 1983 Code of Canon Law did not reissue the canon, and by doing so, effectively nullified the previous 1917 code. While some women continued to wear hats (I distinctly recall a gray-haired woman who wore a weird woolen stocking cap covered with wooden beads in my 1980's grade school parish experience), the practice was relatively limited to older parishioners, and was no longer stipulated or encouraged amongst the faithful.
↑ Allen, Bob (31 August 2016). "Christian woman ordered to remove scarf for driver's license photo files lawsuit". Baptist News Global. Retrieved 9 March 2024. Church Fathers like Hippolytus of Rome and Protestant Reformer Martin Luther taught that women should wear veils during public worship. While most followers of Western Christianity have abandoned the practice relatively recently, it is still practiced today in some conservative Mennonite and Amish traditions. In recent years the practice has spread to other denominations in the form of a "head covering movement" embraced by some in the "complementarian" branch of American evangelicalism that emphasizes male headship and wifely submission in the church and home.
↑ Yegorov, Oleg (11 December 2019). "Why do women cover their heads in Orthodox churches?". Russia Beyond. In the Orthodox tradition, this is a big no-no. Of course, no one would kick a bareheaded woman out of an Orthodox church, should she walk in, but she is very likely to face some disapproving and judging looks, especially from the local babushkas (you'll always find a few babushkas inside an Orthodox church in Russia). The reason is simple: in an Orthodox church, a woman should wear a headscarf.
↑ The Pacific, Volume 50. J.W. Douglas. 1901. p.227.
1 2 Zuck, RoyCheck B. (2006). Vital New Testament Issues: Examining New Testament Passages and Problems. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p.105. ISBN978-1-59752-684-5.
↑ Lum, Kenneth Anthony (2000). Praising His Name In The Dance: Spirit Possession in the Spiritual Baptist Faith and Orisha Work in Trinidad, West Indies. Routledge. p.224. ISBN978-1-136-76630-5.
↑ Flinn, Isabella (2014). Pinpricks in the Curtain: India Through the Eyes of an Unlikely Missionary. WestBow Press. p.234. ISBN9781490834313.
↑ Shaw, Stanford J. (2016). The Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic. Springer. p.170. ISBN978-1-349-12235-6. ... Christian women wore the marama shawl over both their heads and necks.
1 2 Scott, Stephen (1996). Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups: People's Place Book No. 12. Simon and Schuster. ISBN978-1-68099-243-4. Many Charity women wear the usual cape dress worn by most conservative Mennonites, but a jacket type upper garment is also very common and is worn with a very long skirt. The type of head covering is not specified, but most women wear a large, opaque, white veiling.
1 2 Hume, Lynne (2013). The Religious Life of Dress: Global Fashion and Faith. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN978-0-85785-363-9. Following the general Anabaptist worldview, Hutterite dress not only emphasizes modesty but also separation from the world. ... The women wear ankle-length skirts or dresses with a blouse, a kerchief-style head covering with polka dots (tiechle), usually black and white, and solid comfortable shoes.
↑ "What are Church Hats?". Southern Living. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2018. Church hats have been a key part of churchgoers' Sunday best for years, and are still an important aspect of dress in some churches today. The practice of covering one's head for church originally came from 1 Corinthians 11:15. The simple head covering has been adapted and expanded to become a stylish part of Southern women's churchgoing attire. At the turn of the century, many Southern ladies wore simple hats to church out of respect, reverence for the service, and continuity with passed-down traditions. The church hat tradition continues today, with hats – sometimes called "crowns" – in bright colors, bold patterns, and eye-catching styles at Sunday services across the South.
↑ "Church Helps Uphold Assyrian Tradition". ChicagoTalks. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2024. Assyrian youth women wear traditional Yalkhtas to cover their hair, as a sign of respect and rank in church, as they follow along in worship at Saint Mary's Assyrian Church of the East in Roselle, Ill.
↑ Reagan, David R. (1994). Trusting God: Learning to Walk by Faith. Lamb & Lion Ministries. p.164. ISBN9780945593034. One thing that fascinated me about the Eastern European churches was the "sea of white" that I saw every time I got up to preach. This was because most of the churches practiced head covering for women.
↑ Haji, Nafisa (2011). The Sweetness of Tears. HarperCollins. p.316. ISBN9780061780103. Retrieved 13 November 2012. I went to church, something I'd never expected to do in Pakistan. Sadiq told me that his grandfather's nurse, Sausan, was Christian. Presbyterian. My second Sunday in Karachi, I went to services with her. I was glad of the clothese that Haseena Auntie had helped me shop for, because all the women in church covered their heads, just like Muslim women, with their dupattas.
1 2 Bronner, Simon J (2015). Encyclopedia of American Folklife. Routledge. p.492. ISBN9781317471950.
1 2 Hodgkin, Emily (29 January 2018). "Kate Middleton to be forced to do this at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding?". Daily Express. Retrieved 20 May 2018. However, as the Royal Family are known to be sticklers for tradition, hats will no doubt be required for Harry's wedding. The wearing hats to church by all women is traditionally a requirement of the Anglican church. This is due to the writing of St Paul in Corinthians, where he has some pretty strong feelings about women wearing hats. In 1 Corinthians 11:1–34 he said: "I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven."
↑ The Lutheran Liturgy: Authorized by the Synods Constituting The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1941. p.427.
↑ "An FAQ on Veiling". Lutheran Veils. Retrieved 30 April 2024. Head coverings have been common practice in both the East and Western spheres of Christendom, including among Lutherans, until roughly the 1960's.
↑ Morgan, Sue (2010). Women, Gender and Religious Cultures in Britain, 1800–1940. Taylor & Francis. p.102. ISBN9780415231152. Retrieved 13 November 2012. Several ardent Methodist women wrote to him, asking for his permission to speak. Mar Bosanquet (1739–1815) suggested that if Paul had instructed women to cover their heads when they spoke (1. Cor. 11:5) then he was surely giving direction on how women should conduct themselves when they preached.
↑ Levering, Joseph Mortimer (1903). A History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741–1892. Times Publishing Company. p.617.
↑ Levine, S. E. Jihad (9 January 2022). "Religious Head Coverings and Face Veils – Exotic or Oppressive?". The Daily Item. Retrieved 10 April 2022. Bonnets are worn by many traditional Quaker women, and here in Pennsylvania, we're accustomed to seeing Amish and Mennonite women wearing prayer coverings and veils which can vary in style and color according to their communities.
1 2 Kraybill, Donald B. (2010). Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites. JHU Press. p.103. ISBN9780801896576. Retrieved 13 November 2012. During the 20th century, the wearing of head coverings declined in more assimilated groups, which gradually interpreted the Pauline teaching as referring to cultural practice in the early church without relevance for women in the modern world. Some churches in the mid-20th century had long and contentious discussions about wearing head coverings because proponents saw its decline as a serious erosion of obedience to scriptural teaching.
↑ Kidder, Nicole (29 September 2017). "History of Black Women Wearing Hats at Church". Classroom. Retrieved 10 May 2022. Prior to the 20th century, most American Christian women commonly followed Corinthians 1:11 and covered their heads in worship.
↑ Mark, Rebecca; Vaughan, Robert C. (2004). The South. Greenwood Publishing Group. p.175. ISBN9780313327346. Retrieved 13 November 2012. The red and orange turban described by the anonymous observer also looks forward to the flamboyant Sunday hats worn by African American middle-class women into the twenty-first century, hats celebrated stunningly by Michael Cunningham and Graig Marberry in Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats.
↑ Lewis, James R. (2002). The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Prometheus Books. p.151. ISBN9781615927388.
↑ Hostetler, John (1997). Hutterite Society. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p.105. ISBN978-0-8018-5639-6.
↑ Thompson, Charles (2006). The Old German Baptist Brethren: Faith, Farming, and Change in the Virginia Blue Ridge. University of Illinois Press. p.33. ISBN978-0-252-07343-4.
↑ Bandzuch, Nancy (19 August 2019). "J1ST 084: Chapel Veil". Catholic Sprouts. Retrieved 9 April 2022. Today, we're diving into another sacramental of our Faith: the Chapel Veil.
↑ Lamontagne, Kyla (15 March 2017). "Dear Edith: Why do some women wear veils at church?". FemCatholic. Retrieved 9 April 2022. Fr. Mike [Schmitz] ... did a Q&A about Chapel veils that I feel explains what they are, why they are worn, and the history behind them. One of my favorite parts is when he describes it as sacramental, the same way a rosary or a scapular is.
↑ McClintock, John; Strong, James (1891). Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. Harper & Bros. p.739. A white veil or coif, called velamen dominicale, was worn by females at the time of receiving the eucharist during the 5th and 6th centuries These veils were ordered by the councils of Autun 578 and Angers.
↑ Susan C. Karant-Nunn, Merry E. Wiesner, ed. (2003-03-13). Luther on Women: A Sourcebook. Cambridge University Press. p.31. ISBN9780521658843. Otherwise and aside from that, the wife should put on a veil, just as a pious wife is duty-bound to help bear her husband's accident, illness, and misfortune on account of the evil flesh.
↑ The Lutheran Liturgy: Authorized by the Synods Constituting The Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1941. p.427.
↑ Koopman, John Henry (2022). A Defense of Headcoverings in the Lutheran Church. Gottesdienst: The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy. pp.9–10.
↑ Crump, William D. (2013). The Christmas Encyclopedia (3rded.). McFarland. p.298. ISBN9781476605739.
↑ Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2015). World Clothing and Fashion: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Social Influence. Routledge. ISBN978-1-317-45166-2. During the Protestant Reformation, reformers John Calvin and John Knox interpreted Saint Paul's New Testament worship styles as requiring women to cover their heads on holy ground. In Germany, the typical white modesty shield trailed from the head to the heels. For peasant women in Terni, Italy, the embroidered linen veil projected over the forehead on a whalebone eyeshade.
↑ Reasoner, Mark (2021). Five Models of Scripture. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN978-1-4674-6272-3. What about head coverings for women? On the basis of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, Calvin taught that all women should have their heads covered when meeting in public worship. This practice is continued by some within Reformed, Anabaptist, and Catholic communities today.
↑ Whitaker, William (1588). A Disputation on Holy Scripture, Against the Papists, Especially Bellarmine and Stapleton. p.549. He desires men to pray with uncovered, women with covered heads: which injunctions are not of a perpetual obligation; for they are not now observed even by the papists themselves; so as to make it plain that all churches are not bound to the same ceremonies.
↑ Muller, Richard A. (2003). Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of reformed orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725. Vol.2: Holy Scripture. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. p.482. Given the representative character of Whitaker's treatise and the use of Whitaker's work as a point of reference for sound doctrine throughout the seventeenth century, the following discussion adopts it as an outline and references other theologians in the course of the discussion, both filling out Whitaker's argument from other late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources and manifesting the broad applicability of Whitaker's rules and categories of interpretation.
↑ Cawdrey, Daniel (1645). Vindiciae clavium: or, A vindication of The keyes of the kingdome of heaven, into the hands of the right owners. London: T. H. p.57. Question: "Whether the Synod has power to enjoy things both in their nature and use indifferent." ...I answer: that for men to pray or prophesy with their heads covered, or with long hair, and women uncovered, were things in their own nature indifferent (unless you make it necessary, as a moral duty for men to pray or prophesy uncovered, and women contra; which no interpreters upon that text do)...
↑ Cawdrey, Daniel; Palmer, Herbert; Members Of the Assembly of Divines. (1645). Sabbatum Redivivum: or, The Christian Sabbath Vindicated. London: Robert white. p.463. Divine Apostolicall Institutions (that we may draw to our purpose) were again of two sorts: First, variable, or temporary, which were such injunctions as were prescribed, either for some speciall ends, as that law for abstaining from blood, and things strangled, Acts 15.1, for avoiding offence to the Jews, or to some special nations, or persons, as agreeable to the customs of those places and times, as that of women being vailed in the congregations, and some other the like. Secondly, invariable and perpetual: such as concerned the whole Church...
↑ Poole, Matthew (1700). Annotations Upon the Holy Bible. p.577. Interpreters rightly agree, that this and the following verses are to be interpreted from the customs of countries... Nothing in this is a further rule to christians, than that it is the duty of ministers, in praying and preaching, to use postures and habits that are not naturally, nor according to the custom of the place where they live, uncomely and irreverent, and so looked upon.
↑ Turretin, Francis (1679–1685). Institutio Theologiae Elencticae [Institutes of Elenctic Theology]. Retrieved 3 Mar 2023. XIV. Although certain ordinations of the apostles (which referred to the rites and circumstances of divine worship) were variable and instituted only for a time (as the sanction concerning the not eating of blood and of things strangled [Acts 15:20]; concerning the woman's head being covered and the man's being uncovered when they prophesy [1 Cor. 11:4, 5]) because there was a special cause and reason for them and (this ceasing) the institution itself ought to cease also...
↑ Muller, Richard A. (2003). Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of reformed orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725. Vol.2: Holy Scripture. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. pp.489–90. 4. The "circumstances" and general context of the text. Here Whitaker comes to what must be considered the fundamental literal and grammatical procedure of Protestant exegesis: the right understanding of the actual use of a word in a particular text comes front consideration of'-'the occasion, scope, preceding and following context, and the other circumstances of [the] passage"... Examination of occasion and context also led the annotators of the Geneva Bible to recognize that the Pauline statement, "Everie man praying or prophecying having any thing on his head, dishonoreth his head" (1 Cor. 11:4) as reflecting a customary rather than an apodictic standard... Nor was the importance of the historical context of these verses forgotten in the seventeenth century: Poole comments on the problem of covering the head in prayer and prophesy indicated by 1 Cor. 11:4... Poole also notes the variety of customs in his own rime and indicates that, even in the case of the following verses concerning the covering of a woman's head, that the Pauline text so reflects a historical situation that it cannot provide a rule for contemporary practice.
↑ Wesley, John (1987). Wesley's Notes on the Bible. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. p.570. ISBN9781610252577. Therefore if a woman is not covered – If she will throw off the badge of subjection, let her appear with her hair cut like a man's. But if it be shameful far a woman to appear thus in public, especially in a religious assembly, let her, for the same reason, keep on her veil.
↑ Dunlap, David (1 November 1994). "Headcovering-A Historical Perspective". Uplook Ministries. Retrieved 24 June 2019. Although women were allowed to preach in the Methodist ministry, the veil covering a woman's head was required as a sign of her headship to Christ. Concerning the theological significance of the veil, Wesley wrote, "For a man indeed ought not to veil his head because he is the image and glory of God in the dominion he bears over the creation, representing the supreme dominion of God, which is his glory. But the woman is a matter of glory to the man, who has a becoming dominion over her. Therefore she ought not to appear except with her head veiled as a tacit acknowledgement of it."
1 2 3 Brown, A. Philip (2011). A Survey of the History of the Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16. Aldersgate Forum. p.12.
↑ Sellew, Walter Ashbel (14 April 1903). Hogue, Wilson T. (ed.). Woman in the Public Service. Chicago: Free Methodist Church. pp.232–233.
1 2 3 4 5 Manual of Faith and Practice of Central Yearly Meeting of Friends. Central Yearly Meeting of Friends. 2018. pp.110–11.
↑ "Why do Brethren ladies wear head scarves?". Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. Retrieved 9 April 2022. Scripture enjoins that every woman praying with uncovered head causes herself shame and for this reason Brethren women wear head scarves whilst attending church services. It is common for Brethren ladies to wear a ribbon or headband when out amongst the general public.
↑ Pestana, Carla Gardina (2004). Quakers and Baptists in Colonial Massachusetts. Cambridge University Press. p.2. ISBN978-0-521-52504-6. The concern for church purity that underlay both of these views also led Williams to advocate the veiling of women at worship service, which he believed was a practice of the primitive churches.
↑ Kay, William; Dyer, Anne (2011). European Pentecostalism. Brill Academic Publishers. p.393. ISBN978-90-04-21636-5. Their attitudes were essentially sectarian and exclusive and, though they attempted to interact with wider aspects of popular culture (especially in their choice of music hall tunes and their crusade avertising), they were largely isolated from other Christian streams until the 1960s. ... In the 1960s they were forced to re-think their orientation. ... With little debate Pentecostals revised their practices and quietly dropped the cultural demands of their holiness codes. Young women could wear trousers, jewellry was acceptable, head coverings stopped being obligatory and cinema attendance was no longer sinful. In short, Pentecostals moved from a sectarian orientation towards a denominational orientation and therey followed a classic sociological trajectory. By the end of the century we might say that the most successful Pentecostals had absorbed elements of popular culture and sacralised it.
↑ Bendroth, Margaret Lamberts; Brereton, Virginia Lieson (2002). Women and Twentieth-century Protestantism. University of Illinois Press. p.29. ISBN978-0-252-06998-7.
↑ "Headcoverings". Ukrainian Pentecostal Church. Retrieved 9 April 2022. 1 Corinthians 11 We interpret 1 Corinthians 11 quite literally. "4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved." Why don't you interpret hair as being the covering? We do not interpret hair as being the covering because if hair is the covering the Bible is referring to then that must mean that men are not allowed to have hair or he dishonors his head. If a distinction is made between long hair as being the covering (in contrast to short hair) then in that case this piece of scripture must mean that women must have long hair as their covering. What is the purpose of headcovering? Some believe that the headcovering is an extension of other modesty guidelines found in the Bible. We believe that wearing the headcovering is about more than just modesty for women. Women are to cover their heads for angel's sake (1 Corinthians 11:10). "Through head coverings our women show all present that their position as a woman is also redeemed. No longer are they at war usurping and longing for the man's position of authority (Gen 3:16). Instead they're content in the role God ordained for them in Genesis 2."
↑ Luke, Shelton (2016). "Statement of Apostolic Policy". The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith. You are cordially invited to The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith regardless of race, creed, color or place of national origin. We ask however, that you abide by our Apostolic rules and the women have head covering and not wear pants.
1 2 Kercheville, Brent (11 January 2006). "The Head Covering (1 Corinthians 11:1–16)". West Palm Beach Church of Christ. Retrieved 7 April 2022. Prophecy was only by the power of God, and was only done through spiritual gifts. And this prophecy is tied to prayer. So it seems that Paul is talking about the spiritual gifts of prayer and prophecy. We know that women were praying and prophesying and had the power of spiritual gifts. See the four virgin daughters who prophesied in Acts 21:9. ... It would be shameful for a woman to take upon herself such power as the gift of prophecy and not cover her head to show that she has authority from God for this action. The order of creation is to be remembered and where the authority is needs to be remembered. Verse 10 makes this statement clear because it is the explanation of verses 6–9, when it says "for this reason women ought to have authority on their head." Women were to have this sign of authority for what they were doing, otherwise they would be bringing shame upon the Lord for being uncovered. It is important to notice a few things in verse 10. First of all, the word there for "authority," means authority. Many commentators including conservative ones have tried to make this mean a symbol of subjection. Literally the text reads "For this reason the woman ought to have authority on her head because of angels." So we cannot state that the covering is a symbol of subjection. We cannot treat the covering as a symbol of subjection. It is a symbol of God's authority for a woman to pray and prophesy with the spiritual gifts she has been given in public.
↑ "Back to the Old Paths". The Davidian Seventh-day Adventists Association. 15 September 1935. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
↑ Dube, Lindoll (11 July 2019). "Head Covering', is it necessary for Religious gatherings?". Shepherd's Rod. Retrieved 10 April 2024. Therefore, the covering of her hair also denotes humbling before God or, as it were, laying aside her glory...it certainly is essential when teaching or worshipping whether it be at home or in church.
↑ "Questions From Readers", The Watchtower, July 15, 2002, p. 27.
1 2 3 Stein, Stephen J. (1992). The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers. Yale University Press. p.160. ISBN978-0-300-05139-1.
↑ Dillon, Paul (1903). "An Out of the Way Land". The Irish Ecclesiastical Record. Browne and Nolan. p.370. Near Alessio, further south, the women wear dresses all finged and tasselled; and their sisters in central Albania have white veils and high head-dresses.
↑ Jacques, Edwin E. (2009). The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present. McFarland. p.221. ISBN978-0-7864-4238-6. Poujade (1867, 194) noted that Christian women used white veils. Long after independence from Turkey, elderly Orthodox women in Elbasan could be seen on the street wearing white veils, although usually their eyes were visible.
↑ "About Believers Church: Practical Distinctives". Gospel for Asia. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2016. In our church services, you will see that the women wear head coverings as is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11:2–16. In the same way, we adhere to the practice of baptism as commanded in Matthew 28:19, and Holy Communion, which is given to us in 1 Corinthians 11:23–26. These are all part of the traditions of faith of Believers Church.
↑ Anderson, Cory A. (2013). The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change. Stoneboro: Ridgeway Publishing. p.13. ...the Bible, as well as "nature," demonstrates that a head covering must be worn out of modesty. This is recognized by cultures all over the world today, as well as Jewish texts from ancient Israel: "The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me" (Song of Solomon 5:7). The watchmen added insult to injury, forcibly unveiling the woman. Women were to have a proper shame of being unveiled in the company of others.
↑ Safran, Linda (2014). The Medieval Salento: Art and Identity in Southern Italy. University of Pennsylvania Press. p.112. ISBN9780812245547. Many Christian women also covered their hair, as enjoined by Saint Paul (1 Cor. 11:5) and as suggested by numerous medieval representations.
↑ Zerbe, Gordon (2018). Reclaiming the Old Testament: Essays in Honour of Waldemar Janzen. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p.56. ISBN978-1-5326-5821-1.
↑ Witherington III, Ben (1995). Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Eerdmans. p.236. Paul's view is that the creation order should be properly manifested, not obliterated, in Christian worship, especially because even angels, as guardians of the creation order, are present, observing such worship and perhaps even participating in it.
↑ Yarborough, Kaitlyn (20 May 2022). "How To Know When It's Rude To Wear Your Hat Indoors, According to Etiquette". Southern Living. Retrieved 1 February 2023. Hat etiquette also has roots in Christianity, as it's long been considered customary for men to remove their hats upon entering a church. As we all know, however, church hats are a historic tradition for women to wear in the South.
↑ Neusner, Jacob; Armistead, M. Kathryn (2010). Introduction to World Religions: Communities and Cultures. Abingdon Press. ISBN978-1-4267-1976-9. In most forms of Christianity, however, men remove their hats as a sign of deference to the deity. The bareheadedness derives from the comments of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:4 that "a man who keeps his head covered when he prays or prophesies brings shame upon his head" (NEB). ... Higher Roman Catholic clerics wear a skullcap, customarily called a zucchetto, as a sign of office – but they remove it at various points during the Mass as a gesture of respect to God.
↑ Gould, Ezra Palmer (1887). Commentary on the Epistles To the Corinthians. American Baptist Publication Society. p.94.
1 2 McGarvey, John William; Pendleton, Philip Yancy (1916). Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians and Romans. The Standard Publishing Company. p.112.
↑ Farrell, Heather (2014). Walking with the Women of the New Testament. Cedar Fort Publishing. ISBN978-1-4621-0872-5. ... that the word translated in verses 5 and 13 as "uncovered" is akatakaluptos and means "unveiled" and the word translated in verse 6 as "covered" is katakalupto which means to "cover wholly, [or] veil." The word power in verse 10 may have also been mistranslated because the fact that in Aramaic the roots of the word power and veil are spelled the same.
↑ The Brethren Encyclopedia. Brethren Encyclopedia, Incorporated. 1983. p.1062.
↑ Young, Serinity (1999). Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion: A–K. Macmillan Reference USA. ISBN978-0-02-864859-0. Christianity , beginning with the New Testament (in passages such as Corinthians 11: 2–16 or 1 Timothy 2:8–15) preserves the admonition for women to assume modest attire and to cover their heads.
↑ Elliott, Neil (2005). Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle. Fortress Press. p.210. ISBN978-1-4514-1511-7. If we look instead to the order of Paul's argument, we observe that he wants the Corinthians to know, first of all, that "the head of every man is Christ" (11:3); and that the practical consequence of this teaching is, first of all, that "any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head," that is, Christ (11:4). That gesture on the part of a pious man was common enough, indeed ubiquitous, in Roman religion. Pulling his toga up over his head (in Latin praying capite velato; in Greek, perhaps, kata kephalēs echōn) was "the iconographic mark of a sacrificant presiding over a specifically Roman ritual," whether the emperor, a Roman priest, or a layman (Richard Gordon). This, several scholars have recently argued, is the most plausible context for the practices addressed by Paul in 1 Cor. 11:4. This suggestion, which reverses the more conventional reading of the passage as restricting women's behavior, also arrives at a clearer logic. Paul discusses accepted cultural norms concerning hair (11:13–15) and women's head adornment in public (11:5–6), not because he wants to impose his own cultural standards (Jewish? Greek? Roman?) or the Corinthian women, but in order to establish a principle he regards as basically uncontroversial: that customs of head adornment bring honor or dishonor to one's social "head."
1 2 3 Gandhi, Rajesh (24 August 2011). "Haman, Head Coverings, and First Corinthians 11:1–16". A People for His Name. Retrieved 7 April 2022. Esther 6 records the dramatic reversal that resulted in Haman's humiliation. Hearing the king speak of one whom he desired to honor, he thought that surely the king intended to honor him (6:6). To his great chagrin, he learned that the king ordained that Haman himself was to honor Mordecai, whom he greatly despised (6:10). After he had fulfilled the king's directives to honor Mordecai publicly (6:11), "Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered" (6:12). Plainly, this text is not declaring that he went to his home having hair on his head. Nor is it asserting either that he had long hair on his head as he went home or that he somehow miraculously grew his hair long. Rather, this verse records that because he had been humiliated, he headed home, draping an external covering over his head. Furthermore, the LXX rendering of the verse reads as follows: BGT Esther 6:12 ¶ ἐπέστρεψεν δὲ ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος εἰς τὴν αὐλήν Αμαν δὲ ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὰ ἴδια λυπούμενος κατὰ κεφαλῆς LXE Esther 6:12 And Mardochaeus returned to the palace: but Aman went home mourning, and having his head covered. ... The exact phrase κατὰ κεφαλῆς found here occurs in only one other passage in the Bible in Greek: BGT 1 Corinthians 11:4 πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ. SCR 1 Corinthians 11:4 πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων, κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ. KJV 1 Corinthians 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. ... Moreover, Hatch and Redpath (κατακαλύπτειν, 733) report that another hand of the Septuagint for Esther 6:12 reads, κατακεκαλυμμένος κεφαλήν. This variant reading has the perfect passive participle of the key verb used in 1 Corinthians 11:6 and 7 for both a man's and a woman's covering his or her head (κατακαλύπτω): BGT 1 Corinthians 11:6 εἰ γὰρ οὐ κατακαλύπτεται γυνή, καὶ κειράσθω• εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν γυναικὶ τὸ κείρασθαι ἢ ξυρᾶσθαι, κατακαλυπτέσθω. SCR 1 Corinthians 11:6 εἰ γὰρ οὐ κατακαλύπτεται γυνή, καὶ κειράσθω• εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν γυναικὶ τὸ κείρασθαι ἢ ξυρᾶσθαι, κατακαλυπτέσθω. KJV 1 Corinthians 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. NAU 1 Corinthians 11:6 For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. BGT 1 Corinthians 11:7 Ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλὴν εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα θεοῦ ὑπάρχων• ἡ γυνὴ δὲ δόξα ἀνδρός ἐστιν. SCR 1 Corinthians 11:7 ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλήν, εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων• γυνὴ δὲ δόξα ἀνδρός ἐστιν. KJV 1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. ... This evidence from the LXX therefore supports holding that the covering in view in 1 Corinthians 11:1–16 is an external head covering for both a man and a woman.
1 2 Barnes, Allen; Barnes, Patti (1995). Christian Apparel. TEACH Services. p.50. ISBN978-1-57258-029-9. The argument is also raised that the hair is sufficient for the covering. Paul says in verse 15 that "her hair is given her for a covering." Let us not suppose, however, that with a single sentence Paul is canceling out everything he has so clearly stated prior to it. The Greek word for covering in verse 15 is peribolaion, not katakalupto as used before for the veiling. In other words the hair is a type of covering, but the veiling used in the previous verses is to wholly cover the head and hair.
↑ Mounce, William D. (2006). Interlinear for the Rest of Us: The Reverse Interlinear for New Testament Word Studies. Zondervan. p.875. ISBN978-0-310-26303-6.
↑ Schreiner, Thomas R. (1991). Grudem, Wayne; Piper, John (eds.). 1 Corinthians 11:2–16: Head Coverings, Prophecies, and the Trinity. Crossway. pp.124–139, 485–487.
1 2 3 Anderson, Cory A. (2013). The Ornament of a Spirit: Exploring the Reasons Covering Styles Change. Stoneboro: Ridgeway Publishing. p.vii. Few New Testament teachings are as clearly taught and yet flatly refused by modern Western Christians as the woman's headcovering.
↑ Stenson, Esther (6 April 2010). "Veiled and free". Anabaptist World. Retrieved 24 May 2022. I grew up, like most Amish Mennonites, believing the wearing of a veiling a nonnegotiable command in Scripture (1 Corinthians 11) that is somehow disconnected from cultural context. Since the Bible teaches the practice, women should do it – no questions permitted. Church authorities interpreted women's wearing of a veiling as a requirement for coming into God's presence in prayer and a sign of acceptance of God's order of creation (in terms of gender). Additionally, the idea that women were to have a symbol of authority on our heads "because of the angels" (v. 10) meant that if we wanted their protection, we'd better be veiled.
↑ MacDonald, William (1995). Believer's Bible Commentary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers. p.1786. ISBN9780840719720. Paul teaches the subordination of the woman to man by going back to creation. This should forever lay to rest any idea that his teaching about women's covering was what was culturally suitable to his day but not applicable to us today.
1 2 Keddie, John W. (2019). The Church: Its Nature, Ordinances and Offices. Lulu.com. pp.227–29. ISBN978-1-326-83069-4.
↑ Beetham, Christopher A., ed. (2021). The Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Zondervan Academic. ISBN978-0-310-59848-0. κατακαλύπτω G2877 (katakalyptō), to cover up, veil; ἀκατακάλυπτος G184 (akatakalyptos), uncovered
Massey, Preston T. (2011). "Long Hair as a Glory and as a Covering: Removing an Ambiguity from 1 Cor 11:15". Novum Testamentum. 53: 52–72. doi:10.1163/004810010X12590258025980.
Massey, Preston T. (2007). "The Meaning of κατακαλυπτω and κατα κεφαλης εχων in 1 Corinthians 11.2–16". New Testament Studies. 53 (4): 502–23. doi:10.1017/S0028688507000252. S2CID170747446.
Oster, Richard (2009). "When Men Wore Veils to Worship: The Historical Context of 1 Corinthians 11.4". New Testament Studies. 34 (4): 481–505. doi:10.1017/S0028688500021093. S2CID170445159.
Sanseri, Gary (1999). Covered or Uncovered? How 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 applies to worship and leadership in the church. Back Home Industries. ISBN978-1880045206.
Scroggs, Robin (1972). "Paul and the Eschatological Woman". Journal of the American Academy of Religion (3): 283–303. doi:10.1093/jaarel/XL.3.283.
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