Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. But if anyone is disposed to be contentious—we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. (1Corinthians 11: 11-16)

We can perceive that Paul may have had a fleeting sense of the potential for his teaching on head-coverings to be misused. His argument depends entirely on the conventional subjection of women to men.

But in an almost parenthetical phrase Paul undermines his argument by reminding his readers that men and women are bound together. Further, just as woman was created of man, all men are born into the world through women. Besides, what is really important is that all things come from God. This is consistent with the core of Paul's teachings, but these core principals leave the head-covering issue unresolved.

Paul culminates his argument regarding head-covering with a non-scriptural appeal to social custom that many of his contemporaries would have found inaccurate. They might have pointed to the Germans, Gauls, and Parthians among which men with long hair were glorified and where the cutting of hair was understood as an offense to God. And what about Samson?

For me the atypically weak and inconsistent arguments presented by Paul suggest this was a problem that he considered a monumental waste of time. He probably saw little more than self-asserting pride in the provocative choices of some at Corinth. Stop trying to bring attention to yourself. Focus your attention on God... for Gods sake!

His final words are dismissive. Paul knows that some enjoy creating strife and nothing he writes is likely to stop them. It is, I think, a lost opportunity.

William Sloan Coffin once told me, "watch out for the radicals in button-down collars, they are the one's who will really get things done." Too often we are distracted by meaningless symbols. If we see ourselves as reformers we focus too much on assuming the pose of a reformer rather than achieving actual reform. If we are more conservative we too often allow ourselves to be baited by provocative behavior rather than listening carefully and responding thoughtfully to essential issues.

We are so easily distracted. It is a serious problem. I have read ahead enough to know that Paul will yet do better job in encouraging helpful attention.