By Tangko Nfor (MA) and Olugbenga Samuel Olagunju (PhD)
ABSTRACT
The Bible was influenced by culture, and culture should be considered in its interpretation and communication. That is, the task of the bible teacher is two-fold –getting the meaning of the Bible in its cultural context and applying it to the culture of the students.There is confusion in applying the teaching of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in some African churches. Some people have applied the command of head covering directly, obliging women to cover their heads (even those who have long or baided hairs) and men (including traditional rulers) to uncover their heads in public worship but at the same time the official attire used by some church leaders during public worship rincludes a head covering.The thesis defeneded in this paper is that the command in I Corinthians 11:2-16 is submission and the expression of it varies from culture to culture. Head covering was a symbol of submission in the Greco-Roman and Jewish cultures and should be required in cultures which do not use it to express submission. To bring out Paul’s intended meaning of the text the exegetical method called, “Interpretive Journey,” proposed by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays is adapted and used in this paper. The method has three main stages. It observes the text to find out its meaning to the original audience, draws out the meaning for Christians today, and applies the meaning to specific contemporary life senarios. The purpose of this paper is to provide a biblical and contextual interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 in order to provide solution to the misapplication in some African churches. The paper also seeks to avoid social disorder that exists in some African churches as a result of misapplication of the text. This work is limited to headcovering as taught on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. Other passages of scriptures will be cited but not treated in detail. The application is limited to the African context though the theological principles derived from the text can be applied in other contexts.
Key words: culture, exegesis, headcovering
