quote:
As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
i'm actually sort of curious about what "the Law" says. normally, i'd be the one to provide that context, but i'm actually drawing something of a blank here. probably just a subject i'm not overly familiar, but i can't recall a single
old testament law stating that women should shut up in church.
indeed, even in mosaic times,
miriam was a prophet before moses. biblical judaism is, of course, a patriarchal system, but the odd exceptions do slip through, most prominently, deborah, esther, and (depending on your bible) judith.
i might make a decent argument about this later, if prompted, but the male dominance in judaism (and homophobia, and extreme sexual laws) seems to come from aversion to asherah worship. asherah was the supposed wife of yahweh, a female god around which a fertility cult was organized.
but this verse probably relates more to the practice of the layout of traditional orthodox jewish churches: men in front, women in back on a second tier. women talking to their husbands in that kind of church would create disorder pretty quickly. but i'm not sure -- it does sandwich this bit between stuff about prophecy.
and also, for the record, "tongues" means
languages, not random babbling. during the pentecost, the apostles were granted the gift of "speaking in tongues" so that the people in the audience
could understand them. babbling is not a miracle. communicating in a language you don't normally speak is.
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