Head covering for Christian women
Christian head covering, also known as Christian veiling, is the traditional practice of women covering their head in a variety of Christian denominations. Some Christian women wear the head covering in public worship and during private prayer at home, while others believe women should wear head coverings at all times. Many theologians of the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches likewise teach that it is "expected of all women to be covered not only during liturgical periods of prayer, but at all times, for this was their honor and sign of authority given by our Lord", while others have held that headcovering should at least be done during prayer and worship. Genesis 24:65 records the veil as a feminine emblem of modesty.
Manuals of early Christianity, including the Didascalia Apostolorum and Pædagogus, instructed that a headcovering must be worn by women during prayer and worship as well as when outside the home. When Paul the Apostle commanded women to be veiled in 1 Corinthians, the surrounding pagan Greek women did not wear head coverings; as such, the practice of Christian headcovering was countercultural in the Apostolic Era, being a biblical ordinance rather than a cultural tradition. The style of headcovering varies by region, though Apostolic Tradition specifies an "opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen".
Those enjoining the practice of head covering for Christian women while "praying and prophesying" ground their argument in 1 Corinthians 11:2–16. Denominations that teach that women should wear head coverings at all times additionally base this doctrine on Paul's dictum that Christians are to "pray without ceasing", Paul's teaching that women being unveiled is dishonourable, and as a reflection of the created order. The consensus of Biblical scholars conclude that in 1 Corinthians 11 "verses 4–7 refer to a literal veil or covering of cloth" for "praying and prophesying" and hold verse 15 to refer to the hair of a woman given to her by nature.
Christian headcovering with a cloth veil was the practice of the early Church, being universally taught by the Church Fathers and practiced by Christian women throughout history, continuing to be the ordinary practice among Christians in many parts of the world, such as Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Egypt, Ethiopia, India and Pakistan; additionally, among Conservative Anabaptists such as the Conservative Mennonite churches and the Dunkard Brethren Church, headcovering is counted as an ordinance of the Church, being worn throughout the day by women. However, in much of the Western world the practice of head covering declined during the 20th century and in churches where it is not practiced, veiling as described in 1 Corinthians 11 is usually taught as being a societal practice for the age in which the passage was written.
History
Scriptural and Second Temple background
During the time of Moses, the Bible records that it was normative for women to wear a head covering. In Numbers 5:18, the sotah ritual, in which the head of a woman accused of adultery is uncovered, is explicated, implying that normally a woman's head is covered; the Talmud thus teaches that the Torah commands women to go out in public with their heads covered. This head covering worn during biblical times was a veil or headscarf.In the Old Testament's Book of Daniel, Susanna wore a head covering and wicked men demanded that it be removed so that they might lust after her. records that Rebecca, while traveling to meet Isaac, covered her head for modesty, demonstrating "her sense of propriety on meeting her betrothed." The removal of a woman's veil in the passage of is linked with nakedness and shame. The biblical book Song of Songs records "the erotic nature of hair from the verse, 'Your hair is as a flock of goats', i.e., from a verse praising her beauty." Jewish law around the time of Jesus stipulated that a married woman who uncovered her hair in public evidenced her infidelity.
Apostolic period (1st century)
Paul first established the Christian community in Corinth around 51–52 AD after arriving from Athens. The church was culturally mixed, composed mostly of Gentiles with some Jewish presence. During his extended stay in Ephesus, Paul received reports of divisions and disorder in the Corinthian church. In response he wrote 1 Corinthians, probably in the spring before Pentecost, and sent it from Ephesus by trusted messengers in the late winter or early spring of 56 AD.In his greeting Paul calls them "the church of God" in Corinth but also includes "all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ," indicating the following directives were framed for the wider Christian audience.
In chapter 11, verses 2–16, Paul first praises the Corinthians for remembering him in everything and for holding fast to the traditions just as he handed them on.
He then states a hierarchy in which Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.
Next he addresses men who pray or prophesy with covered heads and women who do so with uncovered heads, behaviour he describes as dishonouring the "head," and he instructs men to remain bareheaded while such women should be veiled. To support this, he sets out the chain of heads, distinguishes between man as image and glory of God and woman as glory of man. Then appeals to the woman’s creation "from" and "for" the man and to her having "authority" on her head "because of the angels", and then balances this with an affirmation of the mutual dependence of man and woman "in the Lord".
Paul assumes the Corinthians know what is proper, and his "nature" appeal functions as part of a battery of arguments from theology, Scripture, custom, and reason. Aware that his complicated arguments may not convince everyone, he concludes what he insists is the universal Christian custom, the practice of the churches of God..
Between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, Paul made what is known as the "painful" visit to Corinth, which left both sides distressed, and then sent a severe letter now lost. According to 2 Corinthians, Titus later reported that Paul's rebuke produced "godly sorrow," leading the Corinthians to repent and show renewed zeal and loyalty.
Paul expressed consolation at this change and even boasted of their readiness to believers in Macedonia, using their example to stir generosity. The letter is also addressed to "all the holy people in the whole of Achaia," and Collins suggests that Christians from other towns in the province may have joined the Corinthian assembly at times, indicating that practices circulated regionally.
Patristic period (2nd–5th centuries)
Early Christian writers broadly wrote on the practice of women's head coverings, teaching that Paul's instructions applied to both prayer and daily dress. Taken together, these sources present a largely unified patristic expectation that modest Christian women cover their heads not only in worship but in ordinary life. Many scholars infer that, as Christianity gained imperial standing in the fourth century, such clerical ideals increasingly shaped social practice. Some of the reasons by the Church Fathers for covering include: associating a woman's hair with erotic allure; arguing that women should assume the veil at puberty; treating it as integral to women's attire; and appealing to "natural law".Early Christian art and architecture indicate that women prayed with cloth veils on their heads; catacomb depictions from the second and third centuries show women praying with head coverings.
2nd century
Starting in the second century, Irenaeus treats 1 Corinthians 11:10 as authentic apostolic instruction tied to women's prophecy. In Against Heresies 3.11.9 he defends Paul's witness to prophetic gifts "of men and women" in the church, implying that the Pauline regulation on women's head coverings applied in worship.Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian theologian, instructed in Paedagogus that women should be fully covered in public and may uncover only at home. He presents this dress as sober and protective against public gaze, argues that modest veiling prevents both personal lapse and provoking others to sin, and states that women ought to pray veiled as fitting the will of the Word.
3rd century
Into the third century, Tertullian in De virginibus velandis addresses a Carthaginian dispute in which virgins, that is, unmarried females who have reached puberty, appeared in church unveiled. Citing 1 Corinthians, some argued that Paul's veiling rule bound only "wives," not virgins. Tertullian replies on three grounds. First through custom: the practice of the major, apostolic churches is veiling; going unveiled is immodest and disrupts ecclesial unity. Second by definition: "woman" is a single gender embracing virgins, widows, and wives; Eve before marriage and Mary show that virgins are still women. Thirdly by nature and lineage: long hair, cosmetics, and the veil are "testimonies of the body" marking a shared female nature, linked to Eve's transgression and the "daughters of men" narrative; the veil signifies penance and restrains seduction. He reframes the debate from bodily practice to scriptural argument, claims unveiling compromises virginity, and bases the issue in church order: if virgins formed a separate gender they might claim teaching or baptizing. Since they do not perform male functions, they share the same genus as matrons and must remain veiled.Hippolytus of Rome while giving instructions for church gatherings said "...let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering."
The apocryphal Acts of Thomas, preserved in both Greek and Syriac versions, includes a "tour of hell" section describing punishments for various sins. In the Greek version, the narrator reports that "those that are hung by the hair are the shameless who have no modesty at all and go about in the world bareheaded."
4th and 5th century
, a theologian, states a man is "image and glory of God" and therefore prays with head uncovered, while a woman is "the glory of man" and is veiled. He infers that the veiled one is not the image of God in the same sense as the man, though she is consubstantial with him. He therefore links "image" to the exercise of authority or rule, grounding it in Genesis 1:28. Thus, the veil signifies differentiated authority, namely that male headship is bearer of the image qua rule, and female glory as related to the man.John Chrysostom held that to be disobedient to the Christian teaching on veiling was harmful and sinful, stating: "... the business of whether to cover one's head was legislated by nature. When I say 'nature', I mean 'God'. For he is the one who created nature. Take note, therefore, what great harm comes from overturning these boundaries! And don't tell me that this is a small sin."
Jerome noted that the hair cap and the prayer veil is worn by Christian women in Egypt and Syria, who "do not go about with heads uncovered in defiance of the apostle's command, for they wear a close-fitting cap and a veil."
Augustine of Hippo writes about the head covering, "It is not becoming, even in married women, to uncover their hair, since the apostle commands women to keep their heads covered."
Medieval period (5th–15th centuries)
By the Middle Ages, going bareheaded carried strong stigma; in southern Italy, uncovered women were visually coded as adulteresses or prostitutes. Across Byzantium and medieval Europe, long female hair was linked with seduction and immodesty, prompting the expectation that women conceal it under veils, hoods, or caps; only virgins could appear publicly with uncovered hair.Artistic and legal evidence reflects this norm with medieval art depicting veiled women in worship, and sumptuary laws regulated the quality and expense of women's veils as a matter of modesty and social order.
Theologians such as Thomas Aquinas stated: "they erred in clothing, namely, because the women gathered for the sacred mysteries with heads uncovered;."
Modern period (16th–21st centuries)
Until at least the 19th century and still extant in certain regions, the wearing of a head covering, both in the public and while attending church, was regarded as customary for Christian women, in line with the injunction to do so in 1 Corinthians 11, in the Mediterranean, European, Indian, Middle Eastern, and African societies.16th and 17th century
In early modern and modern interpretation, 1 Corinthians 11 was often read in tandem with 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14.John Calvin, who saw the wearing of head coverings by Christian women as normative, subsumed 1 Corinthians 11 under the admonition to silence: the veil addresses women who presume to speak, but it does not license them to do so; in the Institutes he treats veiling "within a larger context of understanding the common good".
The Council of Trent, convened by Pope Paul III, responded to the Protestant Reformation by clarifying Catholic doctrine and tightening church discipline. Within post-Tridentine Catholicism, women in religious life were distinguished by their religious habit and the rite of profession was commonly described as "taking the veil."
Cornelius à Lapide, a Jesuit priest, argued in his commentary that Paul's passage on head coverings was intended to distinguish Christian practice from pagan custom. He contended that the Apostle sought to abolish the "heathen" practice where women worshipped "bareheaded, according to the ancient custom of the heathen."
The 1599 Geneva Bible's commentary adds that a woman uncovered in public worship "shame themselves," removing "the sign and token of their subjection," and appeals to "nature" to judge appearing bareheaded improper.
Philosopher John Locke says women at Corinth sometimes "prayed and prophesied" in assembly, but had to remain veiled while doing so. He adds that ordinary speaking in church was to be silent for women "without an extraordinary call," whereas speaking was allowed when it was "by an extraordinary call and commission from God," i.e., by the Spirit’s "immediate motion and impulse."
In the 1600s Christian literature, with respect to demonology, has documented that during exorcisms, possessed women have attempted to tear off their headcovering, as with the case of Frances Bruchmüllerin in Sulzbach. These instances are tied by some to the enigmatic phrase "because of the angels" in 1 Corinthians 11:10, in which a veiled head is seen as a shield against attacks by fallen angels such as those mentioned in the Book of Enoch.
18th and 19th century
Across much of 18th-century Europe, women were widely expected to cover their heads in public and at worship. the practice was often read through 1 Corinthians 11 as signaling female subordination, and bare-headed women could face exclusion or harassment.In Spain the lace mantilla had, by around 1800, become a potent marker of Spanish female identity, while in Venice veiling and masking practices formed part of urban decorum into the long eighteenth century.
Victorian periodicals registered resistance to strict covering norms; for example, The Christian Lady’s Magazine criticized coiffures and gauzy hats that left hair visible, extending its critique from church to public life.
Many Protestant exegesis held Paul's injunctions as being normative to public Christian worship: H. A. W. Meyer treated covering as a congregational, custom-shaped matter, and Frédéric Godet argued that if a woman appeared prominently, the veil should all the more signal modesty.
By the late Victorian period, resistance was more open: Elizabeth Cady Stanton recounted a London church incident in which a woman chose to stay away rather than resume wearing a bonnet after a reprimand. A feminist interpreter similarly sought to limit the passage's normativity by challenging Pauline authorship or transmission: in The Woman's Bible, Lucy Stone questioned the authority of Paul's injunctions on women's veiling, attributing them not to divine command but to "an old Jewish or Hebrew legend" that Paul, educated "at the feet of Gamaliel," merely repeated. She thus treated the mandate as culturally derived rather than binding. Stanton treated the veiling as a token of subjection.
Influential 18th–19th-century commentators generally upheld head covering as a normative Christian practice for women. This position is seen in works such as: as Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary, Charles Hodge's An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Frédéric Louis Godet's Commentary on First Corinthians, Heinrich Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Epistles to the Corinthians, John Gill's Exposition of the New Testament: 1 Corinthians, Henry Alford's The Greek Testament, and Thomas Charles Edwards's A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
20th and 21st century
In the early part of the 20th century in Britain, wearing a hat was widely treated as integral to women’s public dress and going out bareheaded could be seen as a breach of propriety. Throughout the nineteenth century hats functioned as a cultural necessity in many contexts and that, up to World War I, many women donned a white cap upon rising and wore a hat or bonnet outside the home.From the sixteenth to the early twentieth century, Catholic discipline on women’s attire in worship remained stringent. In 1904, Pope Pius X initiated a comprehensive codification of canon law that culminated in the Code of Canon Law">Canon law (Catholic Church)">Code of Canon Law, which codified long-standing practice rather than introducing a novel obligation.
In regions such as the Mediterranean and the Middle East, many Christian women continued to cover in public or at worship; in Ethiopia ; and in the Indian subcontinent head covering as a sign of respect spans Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, and Christian communities. However, over the course of the early–mid twentieth century, the practice declined in much of the West; some writers link Western reinterpretations that do not require veiling with broader social changes associated with second-wave feminism. In 1968, the National Organization for Women adopted a "Resolution on Head Coverings":
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1969, fifteen women from the Milwaukee chapter of NOW protested in St. John de Nepomuc Catholic Church; after taking their place at the communion rail, the women removed their hats and placed them on the communion rail. The following week, the Milwaukee Sentinel published a letter to the editor from "Mrs. M. E., Milwaukee," who called the protest "immature exhibitionism." Academic publications have noted that the decline of head coverings in many churches correlates with second-wave feminism and with efforts by organizations like NOW to engage religious institutions.
In the mid-20th century, some scholarship began to read 1 Corinthians 11:3–16 as culturally specific. For example, Pierce, Groothuis, and Fee argue that the covering and its social meaning were context-bound in Corinth and that today the practice is a matter of personal choice rather than universal mandate. William O. Walker Jr. advances an interpolation view of 1 Cor 14:34–35. William Barclay reads 1 Cor 11 with reference to Near Eastern head-covering customs. J. Murphy-O’Connor and A. C. Thiselton construe the passage as marking gender differentiation rather than prescribing a timeless dress law. Hans Conzelmann argues local convention and cautions against universalizing Paul’s rationale. Social-anthropological and cultural-history approaches situate the text within Mediterranean honor/shame codes and ancient medical cosmology, interpreting veiling as a practice guarding social and bodily order.
In the Catholic Church, the 1983 Code of Canon Law replaced the 1917 code in its entirety and contains no head-covering requirement; where the custom persists, it is by local practice rather than universal law. Though the practice of head covering was normative in many Protestant churches of the West prior to the 1960s, at present most evangelical churches in the West give the practice little emphasis in informal worship. A number of traditions retain the ordinance of head covering for women: Conservative Anabaptist denominations and Old Order Anabaptist groups link 1 Corinthians 11 with 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and have women wear bonnets or white organza prayer caps throughout waking hours, with hair typically long, center-parted, and pinned up; Conservative Anabaptists more generally have retained women’s head coverings and uncut long hair, practices often abandoned by mainline Anabaptists. Among the Amish, women typically wear long hair with a prayer covering and add a bonnet and shawl in cold weather. Certain African American congregations also preserve head-covering customs; for example, among Spiritual Baptists "women always tie their head" for worship, including in North American congregations.
Since the 2010s, a subset of younger Catholics and Lutherans have revived veiling, in the former case often linked to renewed interest in the Traditional Latin Mass and framed as a voluntary sign of reverence, with clergy noting visible growth and vendors reporting increased sales. Lutherans of the Firstborn Laestadian tradition in the Nordic Countries and Americas have retained the practice of head covering during Mass. Some nuns of the Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican traditions of Christianity still wear the covering as part of their religious habit.
Styles
Early church
From the 1st century AD through Late Antiquity, Christian writers across major centers consistently described head coverings as substantial and opaque, though each region articulated the practice in distinct ways. Many dress/social-history scholars read these texts as norm-making rhetoric amid diverse local "micro-practices". Certain scholars argue for a normative, socially enforced régime grounded in Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 11.Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria urges women to be "entirely covered" in worship, calls veiling "becoming" for prayer, and warns against conspicuous veils or uncovering that invites the gaze.
Bethlehem
In Bethlehem, Jerome’s ascetic counsel links female with plain, enveloping dress and restrained deportment: in his letter to Eustochium he urges continuous modesty in public and private, and in his later exhortation to Demetrias he prefers simple, concealing garments over fine linen and showy dress.Carthage
Tertullian’s De virginibus velandis specifies a substantial head-covering, "as far as the place where the robe begins," with the "region of the veil… co-extensive with the space covered by the hair when unbound" and criticizes substitutes such as turbans, woollen bands, or small linen coifs that "do not reach… the ears." Cyprian’s De habitu virginum likewise advocates modest dress and hair, discouraging braided hair and ornamental display, and warning against adornments that "hide the neck."
Constantinople 'and Antioch'
John Chrysostom reads 1 Corinthians 11 to require women’s head-covering as an ongoing practice rather than merely momentary in prayer. He describes the veil as one "carefully wrapped up on every side for complete enclosure," insisting it be worn continuously as a sign of modesty and order, not just in the liturgy. He also links the external covering with modesty and order: "being covered is a mark of subjection and authority… preserve entire her proper virtue. For the virtue and honor of the governed is to abide in his obedience"). In a parallel vein, commenting on 1 Timothy 2:9, Chrysostom defines "modest apparel" as "such attire as covers completely, and decently."
Rome and Italy
The church order attributed to Hippolytus requires an "opaque cloth," not thin linen, "for this is not a true covering". The Shepherd of Hermas depicts the Church "veiled up to her forehead" with a hood. Ambrose exhorts consecrated women to cover their hair "take the cap which will cover your hair and conceal your countenance."Contemporary
Christina Lindholm observes that across Christian traditions, the veil or head covering has encompassed diverse garments, influenced by the culture in which the church is located. In Western Europe, the colour of the veil could mark certain occasions or states of life, such as white for brides or black for widows; religious orders used them as signs of consecration. Eastern Christians use scarves and wraps tied to modesty customs, and Anabaptists favor plain kapps as symbols of obedience. After World War II, hats and headscarves in Western churches declined but remain in use in some locales. Head coverings thus continue to adapt, carrying meanings of modesty, consecration, identity, and belonging. For example, as Christianity expanded in India, converts often adopted religious practices mediated by local custom, including women's dress; where saris or shalwar kameez predominate, churchgoing attire commonly includes a head covering. In the present-day, various styles of head coverings are worn by Christian women including:| Region / community | Name | Denomination | Description | Image |
 SpainDenominational practicesMany women of various Christian denominations around the world continue to practice head covering during worship and while praying at home, as well as when going out in public. This is true especially in parts of the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Eastern Europe.Western ChristianityAt the start of the 20th century, it was commonplace for women in mainstream Christian denominations of Western Christianity around the world to wear head coverings during church services. These included Anabaptist, Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Plymouth Brethren, Quaker, and Reformed. Those women who belong to Anabaptist traditions are especially known for wearing them throughout the day.Western women formerly wore bonnets as their head coverings, and later, hats became predominant. This practice has generally declined in the Western world, though head coverings for women are common during formal services such as weddings, in the United Kingdom. Among many adherents of Western Christian denominations in the Eastern Hemisphere, head covering remains normative. AnabaptistMany Anabaptist women, especially those of the Conservative Anabaptist and Old Order Anabaptist branches, wear head coverings, often in conjunction with plain dress. This includes Mennonites, River Brethren, Hutterites, Bruderhof, Schwarzenau Brethren, Amish, Apostolic Christians and Charity Christians. Headcovering is among the seven ordinances of Conservative Mennonites, as with the Dunkard Brethren.CatholicHeadcovering for women was unanimously held by the Latin Church until the 1983 Code of Canon Law came into effect. A headcovering in the Catholic tradition carries the status of a sacramental. Historically, women were required to veil their heads when receiving the Eucharist following the Councils of Autun and Angers. Similarly, in 585, the Synod of Auxerre stated that women should wear a head-covering during the Holy Mass. The Synod of Rome in 743 declared that "A woman praying in church without her head covered brings shame upon her head, according to the word of the Apostle", a position later supported by Pope Nicholas I in 866, for church services." In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas said that "the man existing under God should not have a covering over his head to show that he is immediately subject to God; but the woman should wear a covering to show that besides God she is naturally subject to another." In the 1917 Code of Canon Law it was a requirement that women cover their heads in church. It said, "women, however, shall have a covered head and be modestly dressed, especially when they approach the table of the Lord." Veiling was not specifically addressed in the 1983 revision of the Code, which declared the 1917 Code abrogated. According to the new Code, former law only has interpretive weight in norms that are repeated in the 1983 Code; all other norms are simply abrogated. This effectively eliminated the former requirement for a headcovering for Catholic women, by silently dropping it in the new Code of Canon.In some countries, like India, the wearing of a headscarf by Catholic women remains the norm. The Eucharist has been refused to ladies who present themselves without a headcovering. Traditional Catholic and Plain Catholic women continue to practice headcovering, even while most Catholic women in western society no longer do so. LutheranThe General Rubrics of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, as contained in The Lutheran Liturgy, state in a section titled "Headgear for Women": "It is laudable custom, based upon a Scriptural injunction, for women to wear an appropriate head covering in Church, especially at the time of divine service." Some Lutheran women wear the headcovering during the celebration of the Divine Service and in private prayer.Martin Luther, the father of the Lutheran tradition, encouraged wives to wear a veil in public worship. Lutheran systematic theologian Philip Melanchthon broadened this to the public square, holding that "a woman sins who goes in public without her head covered". Moravian/HussiteThe haube is a Christian headovering that has historically been worn by women who belong to the Moravian Church, at least since the 1730s. Nicolaus Zinzendorf, a Moravian divine, "likened the Haube to a 'visible diadem' representative of Jesus' burial cloth." In 1815, Moravian women in the United States switched to wearing the English bonnet of their neighbors. Certain Moravian women continue to wear a headcovering during worship, in keeping with. Additionally, in the present-day, Moravian ladies wear a lace headcovering called a haube when serving as dieners in the celebration of lovefeasts.ReformedIn the Reformed tradition, both John Calvin, the founder of the Continental Reformed Churches, and John Knox, the founder of the Presbyterian Churches, both called for women to wear head coverings. Calvin taught that headcovering was the cornerstone of modesty for Christian women and held that those who removed their veils from their hair would soon come to remove the clothing covering their breasts and that covering their midriffs, leading to societal indecency:Furthermore, Calvin stated "Should any one now object, that her hair is enough, as being a natural covering, Paul says that it is not, for it is such a covering as requires another thing to be made use of for covering it." Other Reformed supporters of headcovering include: William Greenhill, William Gouge, John Lightfoot, Thomas Manton, Christopher Love, John Bunyan, John Cotton, Ezekiel Hopkins, David Dickson, and James Durham. Other Reformed figures of the 16th and 17th centuries held that head covering was a cultural institution, including William Perkins, Walter Travers, William Ames, Nicholas Byfield, Arthur Hildersham, Giles Firmin, Theodore Beza, William Whitaker, Daniel Cawdry, and Herbert Palmer, Matthew Poole, and Francis Turretin. The commentary within the Geneva Bible implies that Paul's admonition is cultural rather than perpetual. Women cover their heads in some conservative Reformed and Presbyterian churches, such as the Heritage Reformed Congregations, Netherlands Reformed Congregations, Free [Presbyterian Church of Scotland], Free [Church of Scotland (Continuing)], Presbyterian Church of North America">Presbyterianism">Presbyterian Church of North America and Presbyterian Reformed Church. Methodist, a principal father of Methodism, held that a woman, "especially in a religious assembly", should "keep on her veil". The Methodist divines Thomas Coke, Adam Clarke, Joseph Sutcliffe, Joseph Benson and Walter Ashbel Sellew, reflected the same position – that veils are enjoined for women, while caps are forbidden to men while praying.Conservative Methodist women, like those belonging to the Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches, wear head coverings. The presence of headcovering in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Christian Methodist Episcopal Church remains stable among women. QuakerThe Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, part of the Gurneyite-Orthodox branch of Quakerism, teaches that in Paul instituted the veiling of women as "a Christian woman's way of properly honoring the headship of men in the church and of making a statement of submission to their authority." The wearing of a veil is thus "the statement of genuine Christian piety and submission." The same passage, in the view of the Central Yearly Meeting, teaches that in addition to a head covering, verses 14 and 15 teach that "nature has endowed women with a natural covering which is their long hair". Given this, the Central Yearly Meeting holds that:Conservative Friends (Quaker) women, including some from the Ohio Yearly Meeting, wear head coverings usually in the form of a "scarf, bonnet, or cap." Plymouth Brethrenwomen wear a headscarf during worship, in addition to wearing some form of headcovering in public.Baptist, the founder of the first Baptist movement in North America, taught that women should veil themselves during worship as this was the practice of the early Church.PentecostalThe wearing of a head covering during Pentecostal worship was the normative practice from its inception; in the 1960s, "head coverings stopped being obligatory" in many Pentecostal denominations of Western Europe, when, "with little debate", many Pentecostals "had absorbed elements of popular culture".Certain Pentecostal Churches, such as the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, Ukrainian Pentecostal Church, and the Christian Congregation continue to observe the veiling of women. RestorationistAmong certain congregations of the Church of Christ, it is customary for women to wear head coverings.The Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Church, in its official organ The Symbolic Code, teaches that women are to wear a head covering anytime when worshipping, both at church and at home, in view of. Female members of Jehovah's Witnesses may only lead prayer and teaching when no baptized male is available to, and must do so wearing a head covering. With regard to The [Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], in 2019, the veiling of women during part of the Church’s temple endowment ceremony was no longer mandatory. That same year, a letter from the Church's First Presidency stated that "Veiling an endowed woman's face prior to burial is optional." It had previously been required. The letter went on to say that such veiling, "may be done if the sister expressed such a desire while she was living. In cases where the wishes of the deceased sister on this matter are not known, her family should be consulted". ShakersIn the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, Shaker girls and women wear a headcovering as a part of their daily wear. These are in the form of a white cap. Historically, these were sewn by Shaker women themselves, though in the middle of the 20th century, the rise of ready-made clothing allowed for the purchase of the same.Eastern ChristianityAmong the churches of Eastern Christianity, it has been traditionally customary for women to cover their heads with a headscarf while in church ; an example of this practice occurs among the Orthodox Christians in the region of Western Moldavia, among other areas. In Albania, Christian women traditionally have worn white veils.Eastern OrthodoxAn ancient Orthodox Christian prayer titled the "Prayer for binding up the head of a woman" has been used liturgically for the blessing of a woman's headcovering, which was historically worn by an Orthodox Christian woman at all times with the exception of sleeping:Alexei Trader, the Eastern Orthodox bishop of the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, delineated the teaching of the Church on a Christian woman's headcovering: Bishop Alexei further stated that "Every Orthodox woman who wears a veil or head-covering is also blessed by that veil of the Mother of God, which miraculously and repeatedly protected the faithful from so much harm." Women belonging to the community of Old Believers wear opaque Christian head coverings, with those who are married keeping a knitted bonnet known as a povoinik underneath. However, in parishes of the Orthodox Church in America, the wearing of the headscarf is less common and is a matter of Christian liberty. Eastern Orthodox nuns wear a head covering called an apostolnik, which is worn at all times, and is the only part of the monastic habit which distinguishes them from Eastern Orthodox monks. Oriental OrthodoxIn Oriental Orthodox Christianity, Coptic women historically covered their head and face in public and in the presence of men. During the 19th century, upper-class urban Christian and Muslim women in Egypt wore a garment which included a head cover and a burqa. The name of this garment, harabah, derives from early Christian and Judaic religious vocabulary, which may indicate the origins of the garment itself. Unmarried women generally wore white veils while married women wore black. The practice began to decline by the early 20th century.The Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches, which represents the Armenian, Coptic, Syrian, Syrian Church|Indian], Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions of Oriental Orthodox Christianity, enjoins the wearing of a headcovering for a woman as being "Proper Attire in Church". Oriental ProtestantWomen in the Believers Eastern Church, an Oriental Protestant denomination, wear head coverings. Its former Metropolitan Bishop, K. P. Yohannan teaches that "When a woman wears the symbol of God's government, a head covering, she is essentially a rebuke to all the fallen angels. Her actions say to them, 'You have rebelled against the Holy God, but I submit to Him and His headship. I choose not to follow your example of rebellion and pride.'"Scriptural basisOld Testament and Apocrypha/DeuterocanonPassages such as Genesis 24:65, Numbers 5:18, Song of Solomon 5:7, Susanna 1:31–32, and Isaiah 47:2 indicate that women wore a head covering during the Old Testament era. Song of Songs 4:1 records that hair is sensual in nature, with Solomon praising its beauty. The removal of a woman's veil in the passage of is linked with nakedness and shame.New Testament1 Corinthians 11:2–16 contains a key passage to the use of head coverings for women. Much of the interpretive discussion revolves around this passage.ExegesisPaul introduces this passage by praising the Corinthian Christians for remembering the "ordinances" that he had passed on to them. Included in these apostolic ordinances that Paul is discussing in 1 Corinthians 11 are the headcovering and the Eucharist.Paul then explains the Christian use of head coverings using the subjects of headship, glory, angels, natural hair lengths, and the practice of the churches. This led to the universal practice of headcovering in Christianity. Theologians David Lipscomb and J. W. Shepherd in their Commentary on 1st Corinthians explicate the theology behind the traditional Christian interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11, writing that Paul taught that "Every man, therefore, who in praying or prophesying covers his head, thereby acknowledges himself dependent on some earthly head other than his heavenly head, and thereby takes from the latter the honor which is due to him as the head of man." In the Old Testament, priests wore turbans and caps as Jesus was not known in that era, establishing "the reason why there was no command to honour Him by praying or prophesying with heads uncovered." With the revelation of Jesus to humanity, "Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head dishonours his head." In light of 1 Corinthians 11:4, Christian men throughout church history have thus removed their caps when praying and worshipping, as well as when entering a church. As the biblical passage progresses, Paul teaches that: Ezra Palmer Gould, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School, noted that "The long hair and the veil were both intended as a covering of the head, and as a sign of true womanliness, and of the right relation of woman to man; and hence the absence of one had the same significance as that of the other." This is reflected in the patristic teaching of the Early Church Father John Chrysostom, who explained the two coverings discussed by Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 11: File:Old church of Urmia.jpg|thumb|Assyrian Christian women wearing head coverings and modest clothing praying in Mary Church, Urmia|Mart Maryam Church] in Urmia, Iran. Certain denominations of Christianity, such as traditional Anabaptists, combine this with 1 Thessalonians 5 and hold that Christian women are commanded to wear a headcovering without ceasing. Anabaptist expositors, such as Daniel Willis, have cited the Early Church Father John Chrysostom, who provided additional reasons from Scripture for the practice of a Christian woman wearing her headcovering all the time – that "if to be shaven is always dishonourable, it is plain too that being uncovered is always a reproach" and that "because of the angels...signifies that not at the time of prayer only but also continually, she ought to be covered." A Conservative Anabaptist publication titled The Significance of the Christian Woman's Veiling, authored by Merle Ruth, teaches with regard to the continual wearing of the headcovering by believing women, that it is: The biblical passage has been interpreted by Anabaptist Christians and Orthodox Christians, among others, in conjunction with modesty in clothing. Genesis 24:65 records the veil as a feminine emblem of modesty. The wearing of head coverings in public by Christian women was commanded in early Christian texts, such as the Didascalia Apostolorum and the Pædagogus, for the purpose of modesty. Verse four of 1 Corinthians 11 uses the Greek words for "head covered", the same Greek words used in Esther 6:12 where "because he had been humiliated, he headed home, draping an external covering over his head" – facts that New Testament scholar Rajesh Gandhi states makes it clear that the passage enjoins the wearing of a cloth veil by Christian women. Biblical scholar Christopher R. Hutson contextualizes the verse citing Greek texts of the same era, such as Moralia: Verses five through seven, as well as verse thirteen, of 1 Corinthians 11 use a form of the Greek word for "veiled", κατακαλύπτω katakalupto; this is contrasted with the Greek word περιβόλαιον peribolaion, which is mentioned in verse 15 of the same chapter, in reference to "something cast around" as with the "hair of a woman... like a mantle cast around". These separate Greek words indicate that there are thus two head coverings that Paul states are compulsory for Christian women to wear, a cloth veil and her natural hair. The words Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 11:5 are employed by contemporary Hellenistic philosophers, such as Philo in Special Laws 3:60, who uses "head uncovered" and "it is clear that Philo is speaking of a head covering being removed because the priest had just removed her kerchief"; additionally, akatakalyptos likewise "means 'uncovered' in Philo, Allegorical Interpretation II,29, and in Polybius 15,27.2." 1 Corinthians 11:16 concludes the passage Paul wrote about Christian veiling: "But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God's other churches." Michael Marlowe, a scholar of biblical languages, explains that Saint Paul's inclusion of this statement was to affirm that the "headcovering practice is a matter of apostolic authority and tradition, and not open to debate", evidenced by repeating a similar sentence with which he starts the passage: "maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you". Interpretive issuesThere are several key sections of 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 that Bible commentators and Christian congregations, since the 1960s, have held differing opinions about, which have resulted in either churches continuing the practice of wearing head coverings, or not practicing the ordinance.
Paul's discussion of hair lengths was not to command any specific hair measurement, but rather, a discussion of "male and female differentiation" as women generally had longer hair than men; while the males of Sparta wore shoulder-length hair, the hair of Spartan women was significantly longer.
Contemporary conclusionsBeginning in the 20th century, due to aforementioned issues, Bible commentators and Christian congregations have either advocated for the continued practice of wearing head coverings, or have discarded the observance of this ordinance as understood in its historic sense. While many Christian congregations, such as those of the Conservative Anabaptists, continue to enjoin the wearing of head coverings for female members, others do not.
Legal issuesIn the United States, an Alabama resident Yvonne Allen, in 2016, filed a complaint with the federal court after being forced to remove her headscarf for her driver's license photograph. Allen characterized herself as a "devout Christian woman whose faith compels her to cover her hair in public." In Allen v. English, et al., Lee County was accused of violating the Establishment Clause and a settlement was negotiated that gave "Allen a new driver’s license with her head covering".In 2017, after a prison warden associated with the United States Penitentiary of Atlanta forced Christian prison visitor Audra Ragland to remove her headscarf, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons that asked for an action plan to ensure that the same would not occur again and that otherwise, the Federal Bureau of Prisons would be exposed to legal liability. Audra Ragland cited as the reason behind the practice of Christian covering and noted that she felt "exposed and embarrassed as she had to walk in front of so many men whom she did not know" and that she was "sickened that she had to potentially compromise her faith" in order to visit her brother. The ACLU noted that the prison warden's coercion constituted "religious discrimination in violation of the First Amendment, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' policy governing visitors' religious head wear and the U.S. Penitentiary of Atlanta's policies." |