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Nature
or Culture?
Prof.
Todd Penner Prof.
Caroline Vander Stichele
This
paper explores two interconnected features of Paul in discourse: ethos
argumentation and the basis of ancient moral philosophical arguments
from nature, demonstrating the gender patterns and modes that NT discourse
explicitly establishes and engenders. The paper begins with a discussion
of Paul’s treatment of hair and headcovering in 1 Cor. 11:2-16,
illustrating how Paul conceives of hair as a highly gendered and sexed
matter. Examining other instances in which Paul makes a similar ontological
more, ground sex differentation in nature, can further illuminate the
larger argumentative gains that this Pauline discourse fosters. Noting Paul’s appeal to nature, then, it is useful to compare this with similar statements in Greco-Roman moral philosophers (especially Epictetus, Plutarch, and Lucian). Rather than simply a matter of convention Greco-Roman moral philosophers sought to ground sex and gender distinctions in nature, thus making the matter of masculinity a divinely ordered mandate. Ancient physiognomic speculations further confirm the essential structure of the moral philosophical argument. While much has been made of the Stoic foundations and/or connections of such speculation, less attention has been given to the argumentative texture and persuasive force of such ontological claims for sex distinctions. Although critical for the history of discussion on NT ethics, it is highly questionable what philosophical value ontological distinctions truly hold given their fundamental rhetorical orientation, construction and utilization. Moreover, once one lays bare the predominant patterns of masculinity that belied Pauline argumentation in these texts, the larger issue of the gendered character of NT discourse as a whole comes into view, as does the problematic nature of interpreting such gender-embedded texts.
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