Women and Worship at Corinth: Paul's Rhetorical Arguments in 1 Corinthians

Making sense of Pauls arguments in 1 Corinthians 11-14 regarding both the role of women in public worship and the value of tongues and prophecy for the unbeliever has long posed challenges for any lay reader or scholar. Despite numerous explanations offered over the years these passages remain marked by inconsistencies contradictions and puzzles. Lucy Peppiatt offers a reading of 1 Corinthians 11-14 in which she proposes that Paul is in conversation with the Corinthian male leadership regarding their domineering superior and selfish practices including coercing the women to wear head coverings lording it over the have-nots at the Lords Supper speaking in tongues all at once and ordering married women to keep quiet in church. Through careful exegesis and theological comment this reading not only brings internal coherence to the text but paints a picture of the apostle gripped by a vision for a new humanity in the Lord resulting in his refusal to compromise with the traditional views of his own society. Instead as those who should identify with the crucified Christ he exhorts the Corinthians to make love their aim and thus to restore dignity and honor to women the outsider and the poor. I view Lucy Peppiatts attempt to reinterpret these texts here . . . as both bold and significant. . . . It is a highly strategic argument and treatment. I expect it to break the broader discussion open in a new and constructive way. --from the foreword by Douglas Campbell In this book Peppiatt sheds new and invigorating light on texts in 1 Corinthians that concern the thorny issue of Paul and women. She brings together exegetical skill theological insight and a vital concern for the historically contingent nature of Pauls argumentation to offer a genuinely original and constructive analysis. So often the language of 1 Cor 11:2-16 and 14:33-35 proves to be a stumbling block for readers of Paul. Peppiatt in ways that will inevitably be contentious paves a plausible way out of the interpretive difficulties and does so in a way that is both unexpected and attractive. --Chris Tilling St. Mellitus College London UK Lucy Peppiatt offers in this volume a reading of Pauls advice on head coverings women and authority in the church. Her persuasive account of 1 Cor 11:2-16 rescues Paul from those who appeal to him in support of misogynistic theologies and confirms Pauls radical critique rather than endorsement of patriarchal culture. I commend it highly. --Murray Rae University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand This is a rigorous exegetical and theological analysis of a crucial and contested passage in Pauls letters attentive to the complex and challenging interpretative options and implications entailed. Lucy Peppiatts argument is a discerning and constructive contribution that requires careful consideration. --Tony Cummins Trinity Western University Langley British Columbia Canada Lucy Peppiatt is the Principal of Westminster Theological Centre based in Cheltenham UK. She is the author of The Disciple: On Becoming Truly Human (2012).