I think there's something in that. I'm not at all sure that it's to do with gnosticism of one sort or another (sounds a bit like eisegesis to me) but there are clearly 2 things going on:
1 Paul is very clear that men should look like men and women like women. This is necessary, he says, because of a created order which goes roughly God (the Father) -> Christ -> man -> woman. 2 in their particular context this issue is manifesting itself in head coverings (and the jury is still somewhat out on what they exactly are).
The popular theory (such as that espoused by Elisabeth Shussler Fiorenza) is that the Corinthians were employing ritual transvestism as a way of incorporating Pagan ecstatic practices into their worship. If so, then Paul's main goal is to "de-ecstasize" Corinthian worship -- which idea is further supported by the fact that Paul follows this discussion with a chapter delimiting the idea of "gifts of the spirit."
Yeah, I'm not at all convinced on this one. THere's no mention of clothing by Paul nor anything else that would point that way. There is an element of "de-ecstasizing" in the whole of the letter, because of Paul's observation that the Corinthians let the world tell them how to run things (and the contemporary climate was to look for the impressive and "ecstatic") but it's certainly right to notice that Paul is delimiting the general scope of gifts. He is certainly of the opinion that all are gifted, in one way or another.
But, again, there's no suggesting that these gifts are anything other than those laid out in the text. Is there a sub-text that we're meant to see somewhere?
no subject
1 Paul is very clear that men should look like men and women like women. This is necessary, he says, because of a created order which goes roughly God (the Father) -> Christ -> man -> woman.
2 in their particular context this issue is manifesting itself in head coverings (and the jury is still somewhat out on what they exactly are).
The popular theory (such as that espoused by Elisabeth Shussler Fiorenza) is that the Corinthians were employing ritual transvestism as a way of incorporating Pagan ecstatic practices into their worship. If so, then Paul's main goal is to "de-ecstasize" Corinthian worship -- which idea is further supported by the fact that Paul follows this discussion with a chapter delimiting the idea of "gifts of the spirit."
Yeah, I'm not at all convinced on this one. THere's no mention of clothing by Paul nor anything else that would point that way.
There is an element of "de-ecstasizing" in the whole of the letter, because of Paul's observation that the Corinthians let the world tell them how to run things (and the contemporary climate was to look for the impressive and "ecstatic") but it's certainly right to notice that Paul is delimiting the general scope of gifts. He is certainly of the opinion that all are gifted, in one way or another.
But, again, there's no suggesting that these gifts are anything other than those laid out in the text. Is there a sub-text that we're meant to see somewhere?