Darrell Berkholder, what do you think about women only covering a portion of the top of their head in light of many fathers clarifying a veil to cover the face? We all know when Moses veiled himself, he covered his face. And when Paul says because of the angels, they agree he is discussing the need for modesty due to the angels lusting after women. Shouldn't a veil both be for the purpose of authority and modesty? So perilous, a face should be hidden to retelling greed. Okay.
And really, the same discussion answers this question as well. You're right, Clement and Tertullian both say that a woman should veil her face, particularly Clement, is very specific on that. But Clement lived in Egypt, where it was the practice of women to veil their face. A lot of people think that started with Muhammad, that it's an Islamic custom because they're the only ones today who did it. But no, it was those peoples in Arabia and across North Africa that it was common for women to veil their face.
So the Christians who lived there, yeah, it made total sense to do that. But you don't find the Christians in Rome or in Greece saying that women should veil their faces. In fact, Tertullian's work, I think if I've got the right one, it's the one entitled on the veiling of virgins. In that work, he goes through a lot of discussion on the head covering. And I think it's in that one that he describes what different churches do throughout the ancient world.
And it's very obvious from reading what he says that there were different types of head coverings in different cultures, that it wasn't uniform. Now, Tertullian argues for, you know, the whole head and even the face to be covered, and he makes a good point. I mean, his point has validity to it. But when he talks about what all the other churches do, well, that's what I was looking at.
What was the practice of the church, the whole worldwide church, and it would not have been customary across most of the ancient world for Christian women to veil their face. But your point is definitely correct that the veiling wasn't just a symbol. It was also a covering for modesty, not just headship, but also modesty. And it's because of the angels come in, there were two reasons given there.
So, I think it's good if a woman's covering, and until, you know, two centuries ago, in the Christian world, and actually in most of the world, maybe more so in the non-Christian world, yeah, women covered their heads out of modesty, and then that started getting dropped in the 1800s. The head covering became a symbol just in church, and then in the 1900s, it went from any kind of veil to a hat, and then mainly just at church. And then since like the 1960s, it's pretty well disappeared except among the Anabaptists.
So, I think that should be kept in mind that it was commanded also for the purpose of modesty. Certainly the early Christians understood it that way. I do want to praise modern-day Christian sisters who wear a covering at all, because you're really going against today's culture, and it's not an easy thing to do. So I want to commend any Christian sister for whatever kind of covering that she's wearing. I would encourage you, yeah, to think about, is this really a covering or is it just a symbol?
Does it cover much of your head? It's good to have a symbol, but it's also supposed to be a covering. And the Greek word there, katakalupto, would give the impression of something coming down. So just something to think about. I think it's a valid point, and it's not good that what's happening in the Anabaptist world, about the last ones who've preserved the head covering, is that they keep shrinking from decade to decade. And in some places, like, say, it's just a small symbol and it's not covering anything.
So, yeah, it'd be good to see the trend, I think, going back the other way to be in full compliance with what Paul is saying there in 1 Corinthians 11.
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