Veiling in Early Christianity
Outline (please work around this outline. you dont have to follow it chronologically. you can also include somethings and remove somethings, but make as few changes as possible) (I). Introduction: Hook: Wearing clothes is a big component of our lives. It is something we dont even think about when we are doing. Everyone wears clothes and anyone who doesnt is labeled insane; Something everyone agrees upon. This practice stemmed from ancient times, as a way for humans to protect themselves from the harsh winters and harsh summers. When we think of early humans, pictures of naked people covered with leaves and animal skins come to mind. Something that was worn as a necessity/protection is, today, combined with a different sense of style. 1. Clothing and Meaning (I). Clothing and symbolic meaning. A. Humans and clothing (brief history). B. Categories and types. (II). Form of expression in our identity A. How do we use clothes to express our identity? B. Which clothes are conducive to identity expression. A. Clothing in Christianity. B. Clothing in Islam. C. The practice of Veiling (women). (III). Thesis Statement. A. Christian women have been covering their heads while praying, when in church, or when in public. Veiling was a form of modesty and a way of showing humility to God, adapted by Judaism, Islam, and Christianity in ancient times. This paper will analyze the practice of veiling, covering the head and face, in ancient Christianity. I will analyze how the custom is perceived today, and how it is interpreted in XXI century Western culture as seen in the ethnic attacks toward Islamic women in France, Sri Lanka, etc. (II). Body 1. The practice of veiling (as a comparison). (I). In Judaism. A. The form of veiling practiced in Judaism. B. Its significance? C. Scriptural evidence? Whether it is a cultural practice or Religious practice, prescribed by God. (II). In Islam. A. The form of veiling practiced in Islam. B. Its significance? C. Scriptural evidence? Whether it is a cultural practice or Religious practice, prescribed by God. 2. The practice of veiling in Christianity. (I). Who did the veiling A. In terms of social class? B. The type of veiling practiced in Christianity. C. Its significance? D. Scriptural evidence? Whether it is a cultural practice or Religious practice, prescribed by God. 3. Perception of veiling today. (I). The shift from veiling, in Christianity. A. The spread of Christianity, Geographically. B. Different cultures having different clothing customs. (II) The industrial boom/ The effects modernization had on clothing. A. The rise of the design and fashion industry B. The rise of advertisement. C. How advertisements are used to influence people, (clothing style). D. How this advertisement of big fashion companies has persuaded women away from veiling (as a way of encouraging them to flaunt their beauty). 4. How veiling is viewed today. 1. The negative connotation that is associated with veiling. A. Who still practices? (Nuns wear a habit, as a way of devotion and a display of the unimportance of fashion, how some Orthodox Jewish women wear a wig or a handkerchief because of their faith, how Muslim women wear hijab or burqa as a form of modesty, to highlight how the practice of veiling had continued. B. Veiling as a symbol today (oppression). C. Countries that ban veiling and the reasons why? D. Countries that require women to veil. E. How the media depicts depict women who chose to veil oppressed and the victims of extreme patriarchal practices. (III). Counterargument 1. Was veiling a cultural practice or religious practice, in early Christianity. (I). Pauls Letters A. How it is perceived? From a religious point of view and a feministic point of view? (the argument). (IV). Conclusion. Bringing together all the points I have made and reiterating the significance of veiling in early Christianity, in terms of the question of whether the practice was cultural or religiously prescribed, the cause of the shift from the veiling practice, and how veiling is viewed today. The annotated Bibliography (make sure to use some of these sources and also include new ones) Crane, Diana, and Laura Bovone. 2006. Approaches to Material Culture: The Sociology of Fashion and Clothing. Poetics 34 (6): 31933. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2006.10.002. The article is a study of material culture in terms of fashionable clothing. The authors analyze the symbolic value of clothing. The five ways this analysis is done is: (1) analyses of material culture as a type of text that expresses symbols and contributes to discourses and to cultural repertoires; (2) analyses of systems of cultural production in which symbolic values are attributed to material culture through the collective activities of members of culture worlds; (3) analyses of the communication of symbolic values associated with items of material culture and the processes whereby these meanings are disseminated to consumers through the media; (4) analyses of the attribution of symbolic values to material culture by consumers and of their responses to symbolic values attributed to material culture by producers of material culture or in other ways; (5) cross-national studies of symbolic values expressed in material goods and of the systems that produce them in order to reveal differences in the types of symbolic values attributed to material culture in different countries and regions. The authors explore through the analysis the cultural, social, and organizational factors that influence the creation of the fashion world. Ross, Robert. 2008. Clothing: A Global History. Polity, 074563186X, 9780745631868. The book looks into the symbols associated with clothing and the message it bears. It analyzes what causes many countries, in the terms of men and women, today to dress very similarly, with a focal point of what had caused this similarity. The author then proceeds to explore the reason why certain places in the world dont dress as similar to other places. The unique way they dress is what sets them apart and how their beliefs and cultures influence that. The book first investigates western dressing and the cultural influence at different time periods. And besides culture influence, how clothing has been a political act whether as a form of rebellion, personal choice, or as a form of identity. Dress, Religion, Identity. 2010. Material Religion 6 (3): 371. doi:10.2752/175183410X12862096296883. This article is an overview of the languages of clothes a book by Alison loan E. It discusses how clothing is a form of communication; How clothes contain both a political and social stand with a deep connection to religion and identity. this article brings to light many debates occurring based on the way people dress, such as the ban of head covering in France, the ban against wearing Christian crosses in primary schools in the USA, etc. And how these forms of expression are viewed as symbols. Loewenthal, Kate Miriam, and Lamis S. Solaim. 2016. Religious Identity, Challenge, and Clothing: Womens Head and Hair Covering in Islam and Judaism. Journal of Empirical Theology 29 (2): 16070. doi:10.1163/15709256-12341344. This is research intended to examine the issues of women head covering in Islam and Judaism. It examines the relations between clothing and the development and expression of religious identity. The paper gives a background history of the religious rulings about womens head covering in Judaism and Islam; Then, proceeds to analyze the significance of head covering in both religion in terms of identity development. It highlights the significant role clothing plays in the expression of religious identity and focuses on issues surrounding dress code for Muslims and Jewish women. Ten practicing Muslim and Jewish women are used as subjects in this research. Galadari, Abdulla. Behind the Veil: Inner Meanings of Womens Islamic Dress Code. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 6, no. 11 (December 2012): 11525. https://login.berea.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=http://search.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3da9h%26AN%3d91821689%26site%3dehost-live. This article examines the Islamic dress code for women. It investigates how the debates that are surrounding this dress code, especially the veil worn by Muslim women. It highlights how the veil is a way of obeying Gods command through physical portrayal. The hijab or veil as it is described is a headscarf or a covering that Muslim women wear. There are different types of coverage in the Islamic world, from burqa to hijab. The paper begins first by defining the veil; it expresses the reason for wearing the veil on religious ground. It shows how it has a deeper spiritual meaning than what societal norms and different cultures display it to be in the physical realm. The article investigates what parts of the dressing codes are religiously prescribed and what part is culturally influenced. It also looks at how this dress code is seen as a form of oppression/repression. TARIQ, TAHMINA. 2013. Let Modesty Be Her Raiment: The Classical Context of Ancient-Christian Veiling. Implicit Religion 16 (4): 493506. doi:10.1558/imre.v16i4.493. The article offers an overview of ancient Christian veiling, how veiling was used when participating in religious sources, Paul letters about veiling, and how men veiled as well. It first discusses the context in which veiling was practiced in the Greco-Roman world; how the ideal place for women was home, where she would be away from the public space of men and their gaze. Out of the house, the veil symbolized a form of protection. The article proceeds to discuss how social status influenced clothing; the veiling at first was only worn by the wealthy because the clothing was a form of displaying social status. Peasants and slaves were identified as inferior and could not veil; the main reason for veiling was that the male gaze wouldnt fall upon a womens body to avoid him from pressuring that image in his mind and recalling it through sexual fantasies, which will belittle the womens honor. Women from lower caste honor were not regarded. The article also offers examples of how veiling was used as a form of modesty and honor, that women safeguarded. Wilkinson, Kate. 2013. Early Christian Dress: Gender, Virtue, and Authority. Church History 82 (1): 16870. doi:10.1017/S0009640712002569. The article is a review of the book Early Christian Dress: Gender, Virtue, and Authority by Kristi Upson-Saia. The article explores the construction of gender in Christian late antiquity and how Christians adapted Roman rhetoric about the dress. It discusses how many texts in terms of women’s clothing are constructed by males and how it is a representation of their own construction of femininity, rather than the real lives and subjective of early Christian women. Martin, Troy W. 2004. Pauls Argument from Nature for the Veil in 1 Corinthians 11:13-15: A Testicle Instead of a Head Covering. Journal of Biblical Literature 123 (1): 7584. doi:10.2307/3268550. This article gives an analysis of the New Testament Biblical passage of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16, calling for the veiling of women in public worship. The article discusses the confusion Pauls argument causes for many women, especially feminists. The author emphasizes how the teachings are male-gender enforced. Pazhoohi, Farid, Antonio F. Macedo, and Joana Arantes. 2017. The Effect of Religious Clothing on Gaze Behavior: An Eye-Tracking Experiment. Basic & Applied Social Psychology 39 (3): 17682. doi:10.1080/01973533.2017.1307748. This is an eye-tracking experimental study regarding religious clothing. The study investigates whether the role of conservative dressing is to restrict the male gaze and whether or not it decreases female physical attractiveness. The results were discussed in terms of the roles of conservative clothing in womens clothing choice, mens mate retention tactics, and parent-offspring conflict over mate choice. Wilhelm, Leonie, Andrea S. Hartmann, Manuel Waldorf, Silja Vocks, Julia C. Becker, and Melahat Ki?i. 2018. Body Covering and Body Image: A Comparison of Veiled and Unveiled Muslim Women, Christian Women, and Atheist Women Regarding Body Checking, Body Dissatisfaction, and Eating Disorder Symptoms. Journal of Religion & Health 57 (5): 180828. doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0585-3. The study examined whether body image, body checking, and disordered eating differ between veiled and unveiled Muslim women, Christian women, and atheist women. The results were discussed.