A Pauline Dress Code or a Roman Analogy: Reinterpreting Paul’s Discourse in 1 Corinthians 11:1–16

Historically, the debate surrounding 1 Corinthians 11 has focused on whether or not Paul is referring to women veiling their heads in church or simply wearing their hair up. This debate roots itself in a nearly universally accepted assumption that Paul is requesting a sort of dress-code standard for praying and prophesying in church. While this has been the dominant reading in scholarship for centuries, there are numerous compelling weaknesses in this interpretation. This paper will explore those weaknesses and provide an alternative reading: When confronted with group conflict, Paul attempts to reason his way through the hierarchical structure he presents by appealing to cultural norms regarding hair and hair coverings. In this way it is not so much Paul outlining a dress code for praying and prophesying in 1 Corinthians 11, but rather appealing to cultural norms in order to rationalize the hierarchy that he presents.