As a female New Testament scholar, I simply shouldn’t have the posh of avoiding 1 Timothy 2:11–15, where Paul, after stating that girls should “learn in quietness and full submission,” claims they “might be saved through childbearing.” The “saved through childbearing” verse has been quoted to me by more strangers and (possibly) well-meaning acquaintances than another, but one particular time stands out.
I don’t remember what context could have possibly made his statement appropriate, but someday about ten years ago, a young man said in a conversation about my teaching, “Well, you are saved through childbearing.” In this instance, I used to be able of authority over him, and I could tell that his “joke” sought to return me to my rightful place.
“Then I assume I’m not saved,” I quipped back, knowing that his interpretation of this verse trusted my literal procreation. I also knew, unlike him, that my body was giving many signs that I’d never bear a baby. (As a side note, by God’s grace, I ultimately did turn into any individual’s mother.)
My story provides a minute glimpse into the horrendous ways that girls have been hurt by the misuse of 1 Timothy 2:11–15, and within the introduction to her recent book Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament, Sandra L. Glahn gives a heartbreaking picture of her experiences with infant loss in addition to encounters with this text in cultures where it stands supreme in determining how women might take part in the church. She, like I, internalized messages about womanhood and the way the price of girls is measured. There should be many arrows in our quivers, they are saying, and our ministries are in our homes.
Glahn, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, sets up her book as one that may deconstruct these views rigorously by attending to the historical context of 1 Timothy. By thoroughly examining early evidence about Ephesus and the goddess Artemis of the Ephesians, which involves some exciting myth busting, Glahn provides a greater understanding of a very complicated passage. Her primary method throughout the book is as an instance claims through the presentation of historical data, which later she analyzes in relationship with the biblical text.
An accurate picture of Artemis
Glahn’s first chapter addresses a very important query that could have crossed your mind: Do we really need one other book on this passage? And why now? Glahn’s resounding yes comes from several directions. We need a “fresh look,” she says, for these reasons:
- For most of church history, women were considered inferior to men by nature.
- Evidence suggests that (despite the purpose above) women were lively within the church throughout that point.
- We have access to more information now through databases, inscriptions, and other archaeological evidence.
- We can higher evaluate information on account of advances within the studies of inscriptions, ancient writing materials and practices, signs and symbols, and literary evaluation.
The second chapter focuses on the town of Ephesus, Timothy’s likely location when he receives correspondence from Paul. Glahn begins with a survey of places where Ephesus appears in Scripture. Among the more distinguished mentions is available in Acts 19, where Paul’s ministry led to the burning of magical books and an rebellion. During the rebellion, a cry rings out from the crowds, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (vv. 28, 34). Paul’s message about Christ threatened their devotion to the goddess—and the production of products that accompanied their worship.
This summary of Glahn’s observations to this point aligns with standard accounts, but where it diverges is in her characterization of the goddess. According to many, Artemis is a goddess of fertility and in some instances prostitution. In physical representations, her torso or chest is roofed with what looks like eggs, and lots of think those eggs are her many breasts. As Glahn notes, some have also emphasized a connection between Artemis and the Amazons of Greek mythology. But what do ancient texts say about Artemis?
Something quite different.
Artemis, who’s most also known as “Artemis of the Ephesians,” is “no person’s mother.” She values virginity and at times fights to preserve her own chastity. Even so, Artemis—who watched her mother suffer through the traumatic birth of her brother Apollo—was understood to be a midwife. Women would pray that she either deliver them safely through the experience of childbirth or mercifully release them from its pain and suffering through the swift delivery of considered one of her arrows.
In these accounts, she is rarely related to prostitution. As Glahn notes, prostitution was banned in Ephesus presently. Each of those characterizations of Artemis from the literary sources can also be corroborated by evidence from ancient epigraphs that Glahn presents in the subsequent chapter. There she looks at various references to Artemis on buildings and monuments, amongst other things, they usually present an identical picture of the goddess.
Though Glahn notes a comparatively consistent portrait of Artemis within the literary sources and available epigraphs, the representations of Artemis in architecture and art are more varied. At times, she looks like an Amazon, a conventional beauty—adorned in jewels with braided hair. At other times, frankly, she looks strange, covered in ovoid shapes interpreted as breasts. But these images will not be representative of various goddesses or divergent traditions. As Glahn notes, coins from that point period have one image of Artemis on the front and the opposite on the back. But the gorgeous virgin hunter is definitely no person’s mother, so what are we to make of those strange egg-like shapes?
Glahn lists a wild range of explanations, including bull testicles and deer canines, but lands on the concept that these shapes are a form of bead utilized in magical jewelry connected with the powers of Artemis of the Ephesians. With these many jewels she is depicted as each resplendent and powerful—an apt portrait of Artemis, as we now have seen.
Image: WikiMedia Commons / Edits by CT
The Artemis of Ephesus
Slogan and response
The final chapter, “Saved Through Childbearing,” explores how a more accurate picture of Artemis aids our interpretation of 1 Timothy as an entire—but especially 1 Timothy 2, where misconceptions of Artemis have influenced Christian understandings about how women take part in the church. Glahn understands 1 Timothy to be a (relatively subtle) polemic against Artemis. She demonstrates how language applied to Artemis appears more often and in alternative ways in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus, and he or she connects various themes in those letters with evidence already noted throughout the book.
But she also makes arguments that go well beyond this relationship. She demonstrates why interpreters should consider 1 Timothy 2:11–15 as instructions to wives, not all women. As she argues, the prohibition on women “teach[ing] or assum[ing] authority over a person” means only that a lady shouldn’t “teach with a view to domineering a husband.” Though that is where Glahn’s arguments converge with typical discussions of the passage, her presentation of the problems is evident and connects with the broader thesis.
Among the more interesting proposals on this chapter is the concept that “A lady is saved through childbearing” was a saying or slogan among the many Ephesians. If so, then Paul is repeating their assertion after which responding to it when he says, if “they proceed in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Tim. 2:15, NRSVUE). Interpreters generally puzzle over the shift from the singular to the plural (i.e., “a lady is saved” if “they proceed”), but as Glahn notes, positing a shift from slogan to response could address this issue.
Overall, this book is a remarkable resource for individuals who wish to learn more about Artemis of the Ephesians specifically. It provides an intensive survey of ancient literature and a few useful evaluation. In this manner, considered one of the book’s great strengths may be seen as considered one of its primary weaknesses: At first, it seems intended for an informed lay audience, yet dozens of pages contain prolonged quotations from primary sources. At times, the discussions are also quite technical. It might be the case that I’ve misjudged the intended audience(s), but the gap in style and pitch between Glahn’s autobiographical introduction and her evaluation of epigraphic evidence is critical.
It can also be the case that some could also be upset that the interpretation of 1 Timothy doesn’t play a more sustained role within the book. However, to Glahn’s credit, the chapter that does consider the passage is kind of long, comprising about one-fourth of the book. Even so, the evaluation is primarily, though under no circumstances exclusively, informed by Glahn’s assumption that Paul has Artemis of the Ephesians in mind throughout his composition, and this may occasionally not be so.
Madison N. Pierce is associate professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary. She is the writer of Divine Discourse within the Epistle to the Hebrews.
