Corpus-Paul

[Markus McDowell <mhmcdowe AT pepperdine.edu>]

On 5/3/99 2:45 PM, Jim West (jwest AT highland.net) wrote:

>In the synagogue in the first c. ce women
>sat on one side and men on the other.  Paul's advice here is merely
>practical.  Woman should wait till they get home to ask their husbands
>questions about what the "preacher" has said rather than interrupt the
>service by yelling across the bench at him to find out the meaning of some
>obscure Pauline idea.

Jim,
Although you make a good point, if this is indeed the situation, I think 
two questions should be asked here:

1. Do we know for sure that men and women sat on opposite sides of 
Diaspora synagogues? Although this seems to be a common assumption, I 
rememebr reading recently that was was no direct evidence of this in the 
first century - but i have not found where i read that yet. Maybe someone 
else knows somehting about this.

2. Even if that WAS thje case in Diaspora synagogues, is there any reason 
to think the the largely Gentile church in Corinth would haev followed 
that pattern. Did pagan temples with mixed audeiences do the same. But 
more importantly, the Corinthian church seems to be pressing their 'new 
found freedom' of Christianity...in light of the mixing of sexes, races, 
and social groups that is apparent in the Cor church, would they still 
haev seated themselves separetly?

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MARKUS H. MCDOWELL
Adjunct Professor            PhD student
Religion Division            Center for Advanced Theological Studies
Pepperdine University        Fuller Theological Seminary
Malibu, California           Pasadena, California   
http://home1.gte.net/markusm/
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