Religion in America -- Artifact Analysis

Various fabrics are available depending on the style chosen, including cotton, batiste, chintz, French and Japanese lace, polyester, and tulle. Some of the designs can be made from more than one type of fabric at the customer's request. Tips on fabric care are included with the link to the color charts.

The Testimonies page of the website offers links to close to thirty testimonies contributed by women who have chosen to wear headcoverings for religious reasons. A few themes repeat themselves among the testimonies of different women. The overall reason for choosing to wear a headcovering appears to be the belief that one must obey the specific commands of the New Testament canon in order to be in right relationship with God as a Christian.[2] Namely, in I Corinthians 11, Paul exhorts the women in his audience to pray and prophesy only with covered heads. (See Resources below for a more in-depth discussion of the exegesis.)

1) The headcovering is a sign of obedience to God's command. Not only do the women believe that they are obeying God simply by wearing the covering, but some also refer to it as a reminder of other obedient behavior. They are to submit to the authority of their husbands, and also to behave with kindness and humility. The covering acts as a kind of string-on-the-finger as it were, helping them to remember the broader injunctions of love. A cancer survivor who has chosen to wear the covering states, "Rebellion was the reason the Lord had allowed my sickness in the first place."

2) The headcovering is necessary to show submission both to God and to human males as per their reading of the command. In one testimony, it is pointed out that women should be submissive unless their husbands are perceived to be disobeying God's commands. In that case, remembering that God is sovereign over the husbands as well, the women are advised to follow their understanding of God's commands.[3] This applies specifically to those husbands who may not want their wives wearing a covering.

3) The headcovering gives them an opportunity to witness to the grace of God in their lives as obedient Believers. More than one woman has been asked, "What is that thing on your head?" when in public places. The women appreciate these opportunities to share their stories, both to bring "glory to God" and to try to persuade others of the truth of their position.

4) Scripture is the ultimate authority for daily living in material as well as spiritual ways, and all decisions should be made with Scripture as a conversation partner, not with our "imperfect brains." Scripture offers a plain understanding for daily life, according to one testimony: "It never seemed right that a knowledge of ancient Greco-Roman social history should be prerequisite to a proper interpretation of Scripture, particularly where a culturally-based interpretation appeared to set aside the plain teaching of the passage." Husbands and wives study Scripture to determine God's commands for their contemporary situations. This is not the only indicator of truth, however. One testifier states, "Over the following weeks I was amazed at how many people, especially men, quietly told me that they thought the passage was relevant for today."

Far from a sense of oppression, the women speak of deriving a sense of peace and purpose from their obedience and submission. They experience a strong sense of love from gatherings where women are wearing headcoverings. They compare their willingness to cover as a love for God similar to the love for their husbands which delights to do those things that their husbands appreciate. They experienced greater grace in their lives (no specific examples are given) once they began wearing coverings. The covered daughters of covered women are described as mature and well behaved beyond the appearances of their peers who are of "the world." They live less complicated, stressful lives by submitting to the authority of their husbands and male pastors and teachers. They feel a sense of place and strength in their ministry in the home, and in some cases, even power. A woman's power is seen to be manifest in her rightful place as administrator of homelife.

According to Paul, there is a specific benefit to wearing the covering: angelic protection. Not only do the women claim this protection for themselves, but also the effect is believed to apply to one's entire household when the women are obedient to the command to cover their heads. This is an additional source of power for their lives. The women who refer to this angelic theology, quote from the same source: Demons in the Church, by H. Skolfield.

The testimonies are full of references to works by men exegeting I Corinthians 11 and commenting more broadly on its themes, as in the above-mentioned work. Most of the resources named on this page of the website are available for sale, many of them in cassette form. One of the testimonies includes an exegesis by the testifier's husband; another is available in its complete form on-line through a link to Apostolic Press. This latter exegesis, by "Brother Doug Savin"[4] of Toronto, Canada, is put forward in the belief that Scripture can be understood without any doubt as to the conclusions of the interpreter. "Let us analyze that chapter [I Corinthians 11] in context of the whole Scripture to eradicate any doubt as to what it really means." [Emphasis mine.]

Brother Savin identifies two problems that have contributed to the controversy over headcovering: "the way the King James Version translates the Apostle Paul's letter [from] the Greek language in which it was originally written" and "that some take this chapter to be directed only to the Corinthian church." Brother Savin continues by pointing out his understanding of the passage as a direction not only to others outside of Corinth, but also to those in other eras of history.

Another difficulty that Brother Savin addresses is the applicability of the passage to married women and men only, versus its universal application. Based on his reading of the Greek, he concludes that the passage is meant for women and men in general, all meant for women and men in general, all women being submissive to all men, not only wives to husbands.

Angelology is given an extended treatment, with references to other passages to help determine why Paul brought up the subject of angels in this particular context. The submission of women to men is an opportunity for witness to the angels who can only know about God's marvel of salvation through watching the Church.

In his "last statement" about headcovering, Brother Savin calls it "self-evident" according to Paul, who refers his audience to the observable practice of Jewish women who worshipped God with covered heads. "Gentile converts should have realized that this was proper simply by observing the Jewish converts who continued to wear the veil during worship." He also discounts the possibility of Paul counting a woman's hair as her covering, reasoning that Paul has changed his topic to hair length. "[Paul] would not systematically expound universal truths about God and, using them as a base, lay down the proper decorum for public worship and then say, 'I was just teasing you; the woman's hair is really her headcovering.' "[5]

He concludes by quoting Paul's final point, that the churches at that time know no other practice, i.e., you should go along with it, too. Relying on his earlier finding that the passage is a universal one and not a time-bound or geographically-specific one, Brother Savin invokes this statement to apply to contemporary church life. Paul has, in effect, pronounced a final blessing on the practice because it falls in line with what is common in the culture.[6] Brother Savin further supports his conclusions by citing pictorial evidence from art in the Roman catacombs, a drawing from the 10^th century C.E., and a painting of Rembrandt, as well as a statement from Clement of Alexandria in the 2^nd century C.E.

The visitor to this website may be struck by the combination of traditional and technological cultural elements in the presentation, as I was. On the one hand, the entire purpose for the website is to promote a mode of dress originated thousands of years ago in a culture completely different from the culture of the website psychologically, socially, geographically, and to a certain extent, even theologically. Not only dress, but also other behaviors are encouraged: female submission to male authority, attention to details of fabric use, adherence to certain assumptions about biology (i.e., contraception), and assumptions of sexual attraction (certain hairstyles and clothes as a "turn on").

On the other hand, the usage of a website to make this belief known is a participation in what is perhaps the most progressive aspect of "the world" today. The technology of the Internet provides great opportunities not only for the spread of a message, but also for the effective commercial promotion of one's product line. However, it also is an open door to the same types of "worldly" sexuality and female assertiveness from which the groups promoting headcovering are retreating.

One of the testimonies points out that headcovering is a neglected practice – one that was commonly accepted in the culture up until about 100 years ago. Interestingly, it is elements of this time period, basically the Victorian era, which the graphics in the website seek to emulate. The images hearken back to the stereotypical "good old days" when women dressed more modestly and were not even allowed to vote, much less hold ordained office in mainline churches. The Victorian era was a time of idealized and idolized femininity – a kind of 19^th century chivalry that appreciated women as pure and modest, in need of rescue and protection and contributors to society through aesthetics and gracefulness and not through intellectual discovery or political assertiveness. In this context, the headcovering protects women from untoward advances, and protects men from sexual temptation.

The Victorian era was the setting for Charles Sheldon's classic, In His Steps, which popularized the phrase, "What would Jesus do?" One of the testimonies makes reference to this mindset when its writer confesses unkind behavior while not wearing a covering. She realized her mistake and said, "Jesus would NEVER have said what I said." In this context, the headcovering is a protection from sin.

The social changes over the past century have indeed shaken up our certainty about the world and our places in it. Theologically, biblical criticism as a discipline seems to be rejected by this group of testifying women who make such statements as, "It just means what it says," and "How do we decide what parts to throw out, and what parts to keep?" [Referring to Scripture passages]. The Jones family chose a quote from Martin Luther to drive home this point:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God; except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.[7]

In this context, the headcovering is a protection from being out of relationship with God. By fulfilling the commands, the women have a sense of peace and love in their relationships with God.[8]

To the extent that it involves a woman's suppression of herself in the world, it is seen as God's will. As one testimony put it, "But just as the resurrected life outshines the execution-stake ('cross'), so living the resurrected life transcends the daily self-death." The quote brings to mind images of the joyful early church martyrs. In this context, the headcovering is a protection against God's abhorrence of pride, vanity and disobedience.

In sum, the women who have chosen to wear headcoverings are invested in their relationships with God and their communities to the best of their abilities to live God's desires for them as they understand them. This website provides a helpful material and spiritual meeting ground for these women.