In Session 2 of Closed Doors?, Women Should Be Silent?, we turn to one of the most challenging passages in the conversation about women in the Church: 1 Corinthians 14:34–35. Paul’s words that women should “remain silent in the churches” have shaped Christian practice for generations—but how should we understand them alongside the rest of 1 Corinthians, where women are clearly praying and prophesying in the gathered church?
In this session, we slow down and examine the passage in its biblical, literary, and cultural context, exploring the major ways Christians have interpreted these difficult verses. Rather than avoiding the tension, we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture as we ask what Paul was addressing in Corinth—and what this passage reveals about the participation of women in the life and ministry of the Church.
