John Granger Cook, «1 Cor 9,5: The Women of the Apostles», Vol. 89 (2008) 352-368
The women of the apostles in 1 Cor 9,5 have posed a riddle in the history of interpretation. With few exceptions commentators over the last one hundred years have identified them as wives and dismissed the text in a few lines. Recent research on the role of women in early Christian mission has brought a fresh assessment, concluding that the women were missionary assistants to the apostles. This essay develops an extended argument to solidify the thesis using the history of interpretation, the nature of missionary partnerships in the Pauline epistles, semantics, some important parallels from the Greco-Roman world, and the nature of ancient households.
366 John Granger Cook
W. den Boer has done one of the most perceptive analyses of the
use of this word (gynaeconitis) in antiquity with relation to the famous
text in Origen, Contra Celsum 3.55 where the term is apparently used
with the meaning “wool-working shop†(68). The text of Celsus has
been crucial in MacDonald’s recent investigation of the role of women
in Christian mission(69). Celsus mentions the evangelistic efforts of
woolworkers, cobblers and fullers (ejriourgou;" kai; skutotovmou" kai;
knafei'") and other uneducated crude individuals who in their own
homes will say nothing in front of their older and more intelligent
masters. Whenever they, however, “get ahold†(lavbwntai) of children
and certain unintelligent women (gunaivwn tinw'n su;n aujtoi'" ajnohvtwn)
they try to teach them how to live. If they see the children’s teacher or
the father approaching, they retreat to the wool-working shop, the
cobbler ’s shop, and the fuller’s shop (th;n gunaikwni'tin h] to; skutei'on
h] to knafei'on) along with the women and children.
Although Celsus is probably thinking of the evangelistic efforts of
men, lower class women (especially freedwomen) worked in
numerous trades, including those that he mentioned (70). There were
many shops where women worked, and some houses in many parts of
the Mediterranean world included shops (71). In late Hellenistic Delos
(68) W. DEN BOER, “Gynaeconitis. A Centre of Christian Propagandaâ€,
VigChr 4 (1950) 61-64. For the text see Origen, C. Cels. 3.55 (SVigChr 54;
196,16-197,7 MARCOVICH).
(69) MACDONALD, “Was Celsus Right?â€, 157-184. For Celsus’ belief that
Christians can only persuade the foolish see the discussion in J.G. COOK, The
Interpretation of the New Testament in Greco Roman Paganism (Tübingen 2000)
82-88.
(70) LEFKOWITZ – FANT, Women’s Life, §322-37 list many papyri and
inscriptions. The trades include woolworker (§ 329). Cf IG II/2 § 1554 Face A
Col. I.32 Filivsth talasi (Philiste “the spinner†in a manumission inscription).
On the text see D.M. LEWIS, “Attic Manumissionsâ€, Hesperia 28 (1959) 208-238.
One could add the cobbler from IG III App. § 12 (Qeva hJ skutotovmo") or the
fuller in P.Cair. Mich. 359 32.1393 (gnavfis[s]a). For other women who were
fullers cf LSJ s.v. knavfissa). Vitruvius 6.7.2 describes the gynaeconitis as the
place where the materfamilias (mother of the family) sits with the women who
work in wool (in quibus matres familiarum cum lanificis habent sessionem).
(71) For Egypt cf R. ALSTON, The City, 62 (an exedra in a house in Egypt that
might have been for a shop), 275 (many Oxyrynchus texts listing merchants). In
Greece some houses also served as places of business. N. CAHILL, “Household
Industry in Greece and Anatoliaâ€, Ancient Greek Houses and Households.
Chronological, Regional and Social Diversity (eds. B.A. AULT – L.C. NEVETT)
(Philadelphia, PA 2005) 54-66 investigates (Classical era) domestic production at
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