The following videos explore how Paul's original teaching in support of celibacy—but with an allowance for marriage—was taken in two opposite directions by later interpreters. After revisiting the roles of women in the Pauline communities during the apostle's lifetime, and recalling his teaching in support of celibacy, we look first at two letters traditionally attributed to Paul that have him unequivocally supporting marriage as well as the subordination and silencing of women (Ephesians and 1 Timothy). We then turn to an apocryphal book called The Acts of Paul and Thecla, which presents Paul as an unequivocal advocate of celibacy. This entertaining tale illuminates the leading role that Christian women could play if dissociated from their traditional surbordinate gender obligations, even while their virginity "made them male" in the eyes of their culture. We close with an exploration of the biblical arguments used by the Catholic Church to forbid women's ordination, and examine how the biblical experts in the Curia came to different conclusions.
The four numbered videos are the most important material, corresponding to the slides. While you don't have to watch them, they may help you prepare for class or fill in gaps after. Below the numbered videos, you will find some additional videos and links, including some that provide context on Jewish women in Jesus' time, the Roman masculine ideal, and the manuscript tradition of Ephesians and 1 Timothy.
Use the links to the right to access pdf files of the slides shown in the videos. Two formats are available: 1 slide per page and three slides per page. Both versions have slides for all four numbered videos (and the three supplementary ones).
The videos below are thumbnails; to enlarge the view, click the play button and select at the bottom of the frame either "YouTube" (to watch the video on YouTube, which in some cases will be clearer) or the full-screen icon ().
1
Women in Paul's Original Preaching
This video revisits the undisputed letters of Paul to explore his views of women's roles and the priority of celibacy over marriage. It will serve as a baseline for the next two videos, which explore how Christian interpretation of Paul took him in two opposite directions—as an advocate of marriage on the one hand, and of celibacy on the other.
12.15
2
Interpreting Paul in Support of Marriage
This video introduces two New Testament texts written in the name of Paul, but by later authors. Both letters thus reflect developments in the Christian communities after Paul's death. We focus on passages that have Paul advocating marriage, because this is a divergence from the original Paul and helps to expose pastoral issues in the second-generation churches.
17.20
3
Interpreting Paul in Support of Celibacy
This video introduces an apocryphal book, The Acts of Paul and Thecla, in which a woman, Thecla, embraces the celibate life after hearing Paul preach about it. While this book is not in the Bible, it was extremely popular in early Christianity, and reflects the popularity of celibacy as a more "perfect" form of discipleship.
13.18
4
The Role of Women in the Catholic Church
This video summarizes the New Testament evidence for church ministries or offices held by women. It then discusses the biblical and historical arguments the Catholic Church has made against women's ordination, and exposes the very different conclusions that the Pontifical Biblical Commission came to when it was tasked to research the issue in 1976.
12.44
Optional Videos & Links
Manuscript Evidence for Ephesians and 1 Timothy - This video introduces the manuscript evidence for the letters to Ephesians and 1 Timothy, and shares a scribal correction of 1 Timothy 3:16 that we find in Codex Sinaiticus—our oldest complete copy of the entire Bible. This type of correction indicates either a scribal invention or a correction in the direction of another, earlier manuscript.
4.34
Jewish Women in Jesus' Time - This video challenges a Christian feminist tendency to portray Jesus as an advocate of women's rights based on biased constructions of Jewish society that portray it in the worst possible light. To establish a more objective baseline for women's rights in the time, we explore the Babatha Archive, a cache of legal documents dating to the century after Jesus.
15.29
Jesus & the Roman Masculine Ideal - This video introduces four key aspects of the Roman masculine ideal, and then juxtaposes these to gospel stories of Jesus to see how—and whether—he "measures up." It probes the consequences in Christian theology and art for a savior who appears in Roman gender categories to be both male and female at the same time, and closes with the use of gender in some contemporary images of Jesus.
The following videos explore how Paul's original teaching in support of celibacy—but with an allowance for marriage—was taken in two opposite directions by later interpreters. After revisiting the roles of women in the Pauline communities during the apostle's lifetime, and recalling his teaching in support of celibacy, we look first at two letters traditionally attributed to Paul that have him unequivocally supporting marriage as well as the subordination and silencing of women (Ephesians and 1 Timothy). We then turn to an apocryphal book called The Acts of Paul and Thecla, which presents Paul as an unequivocal advocate of celibacy. This entertaining tale illuminates the leading role that Christian women could play if dissociated from their traditional surbordinate gender obligations, even while their virginity "made them male" in the eyes of their culture. We close with an exploration of the biblical arguments used by the Catholic Church to forbid women's ordination, and examine how the biblical experts in the Curia came to different conclusions.
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