From the above description of issues in the Corinthian church, how Paul came to know about these issues and how he addressed them in his letter, we are bound to ask ourselves what significance a letter had in the world of Paul. Given that the letter to Corinthians (and other Pauline letters) was not a sacred text at this point, but a local communication or a conversation between Paul and the Corinthians, what authority did it carry, and when did it finally become a sacred text? These questions are crucial for me, especially because in the following chapters, we shall see how Paul’s conversation with the Corinthians in 1 Cor 11:1-16 became a divine sanction of the subordinate status of woman in the history of the Christian tradition where the text functioned (and still functions) as a sacred text.
In antiquity, letters served an important purpose.47
47 According to Dormeyer (2004:61-64), there were different types of letters in antiquity. Dormeyer (2004:63) classifies the New Testament letters in the tupos (type) called ‘cultivated friendship letter’ which was considered
“the epitome of epistolography” (e.g. 1 Thess 1:2-3:10; 1 Cor 1:10-4:21; 2 Cor 1:12-3:3; Gal 1:6-11, 3:1-5).
They substituted presence for absence, hence bridging the gulf between the sender and the recipients (cf. Roetzel 1998:51). Paul is very clear that his letter to the Corinthians for instance substituted his physical presence and carried a lot of authority: “For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment” (1 Cor 5:3). In most cases, when he wrote, he also indicated that he would visit the congregation soon, perhaps to find out if his instructions had been followed. This intensified the importance of his letters. Wall (2004:30) puts it more sharply, stating that “the letter represents the ‘spirit’ of the prophetic Paul, which communicates the word of the Lord in his personal absence.”
Paul’s letters were conversational. They allowed for dialogue as evidenced above by the fact that the Corinthians could write to him on the issues affecting their church, and he could write back.
Thus, both Paul and the community were interested in maintaining their relationship through conversation. I therefore argue with Ehrensperger (2007:56) that “the founding of a community was the result of a corporate activity (and so) it should not come as a surprise that the communication process at a distance via letters was maintained by a group rather than Paul alone” (cf. Crocker 2004:113-114). Important for my argument in my study as a whole and also as I examine 1 Cor 11:1-16 in the current chapter, is that the text is socially constructed and it is socially constructed in conversation, i.e. it is co-construction whereby Paul talks to the community and the community talks back. In so doing, the identity of the community continues to be constructed.
Given the conversational aspect of Pauline letters, which were responding to specific issues in a specific time in history, (at that time these letters were not a sacred text), what was their authority? When and why did they become a sacred text?
The significance of Paul’s letters is expressed by the pseudonymous author of 2 Peter who refers to them as ‘Scriptures’ (2 Peter 3:16), in which case, according to Wall (2004:30), “the Pauline collection serves the church as a Christian appendix to the Jewish Scriptures.” The importance of Pauline letters is also attested by the fact that they were in circulation, long before the collection of the New Testament in the fourth century. According to evidence given by Tertullian, Marcion (c. 85-160 C.E.) who is the first well known collector of Paul’s letters, included ten Pauline letters among others in his canon48
48Marcion was using Paul’s letters in his canon for the formation of a Christianity, regarded by the church in Rome and the later Christian tradition as heretical or non-catholic.
(excluding the Pastoral Epistles). The Chester Beatty Papyrus (P46) from the end of the second century also included ten letters of Paul. The Muratorian Canon, which perhaps dates around the second century C.E., contains a list of thirteen letters, attributed to Paul. By the fourth century, all canonical lists knew a Pauline canon of at least thirteen letters (or fourteen including Hebrews), though sometimes in a different sequence. The above evidence shows that Paul’s letters circulated as authorized letters beyond their original destination even before the formal literary collection (Wall 2004:30; Porter 2004:98-99; Brown 2005:1044-1045).
The question however remains why Paul’s letters prompted such a wide circulation, given that Paul’s apostleship was contested and his letters were not general, but specifically addressed to particular churches to deal with real life issues.49
Scholars have come up with different theories (see Gamble 1985:36-41, Porter 2004:98-121, Brown 2005:1046-1046) but none of them is satisfactory about the origins of the Pauline letter collection. Schenke’s view about the involvement of a ‘Pauline school’
50
In sum, I find some of the arguments of the traditional theory that Gamble (1985:36) refers to as the “snow ball theory” quite appealing though it has been criticized. In particular, I concur with the theory that Paul was an authoritative figure to the congregations he founded. In fact, some of his writings are characterized by the rhetoric of obedience and submission as we shall see in verse 1 below. Furthermore his claim to apostolic authority,
in the collection of the letters is quite appealing (see Gamble 1985:39). This is because, as Gamble (1985:39) rightly observes, Paul’s letters must have been preserved because of the fact that they were persistently taught in church, as opposed to Goodpeed’s theory that Paul’s letters were obscure and only gained importance after 90 C.E with the writing of Acts. Against the view that Paul’s letters were not always valued and carefully treasured (because some were even lost e.g. 1 Cor 5:9; 2 Cor 2:4, while others were only preserved in fragments e.g. 2 Cor), Gamble (1939:40) convincingly argues that although some of Paul’s letters were lost, others were valued and circulated at a very early stage. He identifies Romans and 1 Corinthians as two key letters, whose “original specific addresses were generalized early on, a change that must have been calculated to suggest their broader relevance and their broader use.”
51
49Catholicity was one of the criterions considered for canonization of Scriptures. Letters that were intended by the author for localized use were of questionable value. Although Paul’s letters were unquestionably apostolic, they still fell short of the criterion of catholicity and this raised difficulties as regards their canonization, even at the end of the second century. (For more details about the criteria of canonicity, see Gamble 1985:62-72).
50These may have been a group of people who knew Paul well and valued his teachings. They developed his teachings after his death.
(though contested by some in his
51Apostles were those whom Jesus had called and sent to preach i.e. to bear witness to his victory over death. An apostle was one who had been with Jesus throughout his earthly ministry and had witnessed his resurrection. Paul however regards the term as wider than the Twelve (1 Cor 15:5-7). He includes himself in the list of apostleship on basis of the fact that he saw Jesus (1 Cor 9:1; 15:7-9) near Damascus (Gal 1:17), and secondly because he was commissioned by Jesus to preach. The importance of the apostles in the church is evident in texts such as 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:1, where they are given the first rank. They were regarded as the authoritative interpreters of the Jesus-
community), and his self-proclaimed status as father figure to his congregations as the founder (1 Cor 4:15-16), accorded value to his letters which led to a wider circulation and finally to their canonization. As Brown (2005:1045) rightly argues, “Paul spoke as an apostle with an apocalyptic, eschatological thrust.”