Evanthia Adamtziloglou, Women in the Theology of Saint Paul. A Hermeneutical Analysis of A Cor. 11, 2-16 (Ph.D. Thesis), Academic Register of the Department of Theology, of the Theological School, Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki. Addendum Number 62 of Volume 29, Thessaloniki: 1989.
This work constitutes a doctoral thesis approved by the Department of Theology of the Theological School of the Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki. It examines the hermeneutical approach of A’ Cor. 11,2-16 with particular emphasis on the expression “the head of the woman is the man” (“κεφαλή δε γυναικός ο ανήρ”).
The work comprises of two parts: the first presents the theological presuppositions for understanding Paul’s theological thought and the second includes the passage’s interpretation, which aims to explain, as much as possible, Paul’s thought so as to offer responses to the questions that arise from the passage, its reading by the Church and generally its influence on the role of women in the first and modern Christian societies.
In the first chapter of the first part Evanthia Adamtziloglou deals with women in the Greek-Roman environment of Saint Paul and the Church of Corinth. In the second chapter she examines biblical creation and references on women in Mystical Literature. In the fourth chapter she refers extensively to rabbi theology and concludes the first part by presenting the views of Philon and the Gnostics on the creation of humans.
Having provided readers with a complete picture of philosophical and religious facts and presuppositions for understanding the passage, the author then moves on to the hermeneutical analysis. To begin with, she examines the context in which the passage is located, that is the philological and theological unity of the Epistle to Corinthians. She analyses the new theological context of the creation of humans and the position of the two sexes in it and St. Paul’s social, religious, moral and theological arguments about the position of the two sexes in worship. She introduces a problematic about the responsibilities of women in the allocation of Christ’s power to men and theorises theologically women’s contribution in biological life and addresses philosophically the argument about the covering and the possibility of revising it. She concludes with an investigation into the ecumenical tenability of the position of the sexes in worship according to ecclesiastical tradition.
The thesis ends with conclusions-epilogue, a summation in German and an index of Holy Scripture passages, while the in beginning of the book there is extensive bibliography on the subject.