Forbidden to Teach?
Forbidden to Teach
From INTER INSIGNIORES:
(Italics in the text by John Wijngaards)
19. However, the Apostle’s forbidding of women
‘to speak’ in the assemblies (cf. 1 Cor. 14:34-35,1 Tim. 2:12) is of
a different nature, and exegetes define its meaning in this way: Paul in no way
opposes the right, which he elsewhere recognizes as possessed by women, to
prophesy in the assembly (cf. 1 Cor. 11:5); the prohibition solely concerns
the official function of teaching in the Christian assembly. For Saint Paul
this prescription is bound up with the divine plan of creation (cf. 1 Cor.
11:7; Gen. 2:18-24): it would be difficult to see in it the expression of a
cultural fact. Nor should it be forgotten that we owe to Saint Paul one of the
most vigorous texts in the New Testament on the fundamental equality of men and
women, as children of God in Christ (cf. Gal. 3:28). Therefore there is no
reason for accusing him of prejudices against women, when we note the trust
that he shows towards them and the collaboration that he asks of them in his
apostolate.
For the full text, see: INTER INSIGNIORES.
From the
Commentary by the Sacred
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Declaration Inter
Insigniores:
61. On this point too it is clear from the history of the
apostolic period that there is no foundation for this explanation. However, in
the case of the apostles, should one not take into account the way in which
they themselves shared these prejudices? Thus St Paul has been accused of
misogyny and in his letters are found texts on the inferiority of women that
are the subject of controversy among exegetes and theologians today.
62. It can be questioned whether two of Paul’s most
famous texts on women are authentic or should rather be seen as interpolations,
perhaps even relatively late ones. The first is 1 Cor. 14:34-35: ‘The
women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak,
but should be subordinate as even the law says.’ these two verses, apart
from being missing in some important manuscripts and not being found quoted
before the end of the second century, present stylistic peculiarities foreign
to Paul. The other text is 1 Tim. 2:11-14: ‘I do not allow a woman to
teach or to exercise authority over men.’The Pauline authenticity of this
text is often questioned, although the arguments are weaker.
63. However, it is of little importance whether these texts
are authentic or not: theologians have made abundant use of them to explain
that women cannot receive either the power of magisterium or that of
jurisdiction. It was especially the text of 1 Timothy that provided St Thomas
with the proof that woman is in a state of submission or service, since (as the
text explains) woman was created after man and was the person first responsible
for original sin.
64. But there are other Pauline texts of unquestioned
authenticity that affirm that ‘the head of the woman is the man’ (1
Cor. 11:3 cf. 8-12; Eph. 5:22, 24). It may be asked whether this view of man,
which is in line with that of the books of the Old Testament, is not at the
basis of Paul’s conviction and the Church’s tradition that women
cannot receive the ministry.
65. Now this is a view that modern society rejects
absolutely, and many present-day theologians would shrink from adopting it
without qualifying it. We may note however that Paul does not take his stand on
a philosophical level but on that of biblical history: when he describes, in
relation to marriage, the symbolism of love, he does not see man’s
superiority as domination but as a gift demanding sacrifice, in the image of
Christ.
For the full text, see: Official Commentary on INTER INSIGNIORES.
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