1-2 Timothy, Titus

181 Conclusion The Pastoral Letters are troubling texts. Their author has concealed his identity under a pseudonym borrowed from the famous apostle to the Gentiles. The circumstances behind his compositions are opaque; we do not know what was actually happening in his ministry or his social location. He attacks his opponents with sharp polemics, elevates the social status of elite men, and reinforces subordinated positions for women, children, and the enslaved. His teachings are not only offensive to many present-day audiences, but their appropriation has a long and complicated history within Western culture and large portions of the Christian church. Along with many of the contributors to this volume, I have discussed at great length the author’s restrictive teachings for women. His traditional view of female propriety stands as one of the most important distinctions between the Pastorals and the letters that can reliably be attributed to Paul himself. The author of the Pastorals seems to take up the task of “clarifying” Pauline teachings on women. Contrary to 1 Cor 7:8, 25-28, 32-25, 40, he proposes that what Paul really wanted was for women to get married and have children (1 Tim 2:15; 5:10, 14; 2 Tim 1:5; 3:6; Titus 2:3-5). And, even though many women—among them, Priscilla, Euodia, and Syntyche—were active in the Pauline mission in earlier times, our author claims that the apostle really meant to prohibit women from teaching roles in the church (1 Tim 2:11-12), except with children (2 Tim 1:5) and younger women (Titus 2:3-5). The author’s hyper-valuation of 182 1–2 Timothy, Titus men, of their roles, of “true” masculinity, and of male hierarchy conveys his foundational depreciation of any person who does not embody his cultural conventions about gender. Is it any wonder that he seeks to legislate against women’s ostensibly female nature and feminine ways, against slaves’ supposed servile nature and devious proclivities, and against his opponents’ lack of masculine self-control and attractiveness to weak women? His kyriarchical classifications have led directly to a historical disrespect for the majority of lower-status people and to injustices in church and political systems. Such a thoroughgoing patriarchal worldview is particularly objectionable to me as a Christian woman, as it is to many others. However deplorable we find the author’s beliefs and however much we rightly grieve the influence they have had as authoritative texts, it is undoubtedly true that most early readers of the Pastorals—both male and female—would have shared, affirmed, and promptly disseminated their teachings. These churches and believers existed in a culture built on centuries of accepting such a social hierarchy in philosophy, economics , politics, family life, and religious practices. In their social location , primarily within the urban areas of the Roman Empire, during a time of relative peace and prosperity, I imagine that they viewed the supposed differences between the nature and roles of men and women as ordained by God. Their gender ideals functioned as important stabilizers for their families, communities, cities, and provinces. How appropriate it must have been for the churches to acquire such Pauline letters that supported that very ideology. This explains in part why the churches quickly accepted and used the Pastorals as instructional texts, beginning in the early second century CE. For centuries after and up to the present day, many Christian readers have understood such teachings as divinely given pronouncements about women’s roles in marriage and the family as well as in church organization and leadership. Around the year 200 CE, Tertullian alludes to these verses to limit the priestly roles of women: “It is not permitted to a woman to speak in the church; but neither (is it permitted her) to teach, nor to baptize, nor to offer, nor to claim to herself a lot in any manly function, not to say (in any) sacerdotal office.”1 In the late fourth century 1. Virg., 9 (ca. 206 CE). The quotation begins with 1 Cor 14:34a but links to 1 Tim 2:12. Similarly, the Didascalia apostolorum states: “For it is not to teach that you women . . . are appointed” (3.6.1-2; ca. 225 CE). These citations along with the thoughts of other church fathers on women and the priesthood may be found here: Catholic [3.144.189.177] Project MUSE (2024-04-16 23:18 GMT) Conclusion 183 CE, Epiphanius of Salamis denounced the Quintillianists...