Bart responds to readers, friend and foe, as time allows.
Interesting Questions from Readers (5/27/2025)
Here are some particularly sticky questions I've gotten recently, with expanded answers to share with all of you: QUESTION: Bart, what should we understand by “exousia” in I Cor 11.10? RESPONSE: Ah, right. A woman is to have an "authority" (exousia) on her head. It’s a confusing verse in a confusing passage. The verse: For this reason a woman ought to have authority over her head, because of the angels. It's sometimes translated "veil" though it clearly does not mean veil, per se. But in the context Paul is talking about why women should wear head coverings in church and so in some sense apparently the veil is seen as an “exousia” or “authority.” His opening explanation is that since God is the “head” of Christ and Christ is the head of a man then the man is the head of a woman. Does “head” here not refer to the thing sitting on your shoulders but something like “chief authority” (as in “the head of the department”)? Exousia itself means [...]