In ‘Roman Wives, Roman Widows‘ Bruce Winter makes a case that the covering that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 11 is a “marriage veil” which was worn by all faithful, married, Roman women. Those who cast it off were “replicating the attitude and action of ‘new’ wives” ¹⁾ Bruce Winter – Roman Wives, Roman Widows (Eerdmans, 2003) Page 77  whose “social life was reported to have been pursued at the expense of family responsibilities”. ²⁾ Bruce Winter – Roman Wives, Roman Widows (Eerdmans, 2003) Page 5  These women would also often have “illicit liaisons that defied the previously accepted norms of marriage fidelity and chastity”. ³⁾ Bruce Winter – Roman Wives, Roman Widows (Eerdmans, 2003) Page 5 So Winter defines the head covering as “the symbol of the modesty and chastity expected of a married woman.” ⁴⁾ Bruce Winter – Roman Wives, Roman Widows (Eerdmans, 2003) Page 80″  This is the cultural view of head covering that he subscribes to, but what sets his work apart from others is the substantial amount of evidence for each of his points. Though we’ve already given our thoughts on the cultural view we’d like to interact more specifically with the points he makes and the evidence he gives to support them.

One of Winter’s points is to convey how it would be perceived if a 1st century Roman woman removed her ‘marriage veil’ in public. His premise is that, “As the veil symbolised the husband’s authority over his wife, the omission of the veil by a married woman was a sign of her “withdrawing” herself from the marriage.” ⁵⁾ Bruce Winter – Roman Wives, Roman Widows (Eerdmans, 2003) Page 81  It is our objective to focus on this specific point and show that the evidence that is cited for such a claim is found wanting. Read more