196 FEMINIST VIEWS BASED ON UNTRUTHFUL CLAIMS
Chrysostom (c. A.D. 344/354–407) quoted in my 2001 article,^6 where
(1) God is the “head” of Christ; (2) Christ is the “head” of the church;
(3) the husband is the “head” of the wife; (4) Christ is the “head” of all
things; (5) church leaders are the “head” of the church; and (6) a woman
is the “head” of her maidservant. In all six of these cases, Chrysostom
uses language of rulership and authority to explain the role of the
“head” and uses language of submission and obedience to describe the
role of the “body.”
In addition, there are several statements from various authors indi-
cating a common understanding that the physical head functioned as the
“ruling” part of the body: (1) Plato says that the head “reigns over all
the parts within us” (Timaeus 44.D). (2) Philo says, “the head is the rul-
ing place in the living body” (Moses 2:30); “the mind is head and ruler
of the sense-faculty in us” (Moses 2.82); “head we interpret allegorically
to mean the ruling part of the soul” (On Dreams 2.207); and “Nature
conferred the sovereignty of the body on the head” (The Special Laws
184). (3) Plutarch says, “We affectionately call a person ‘soul’ or ‘head’
from his ruling parts” (Table Talk 7.7 [692.e.1]).
Moreover, the meaning “source” makes no sense in key passages
like Ephesians 5:23, “the husband is the head of the wife.” I am not the
source of my wife in any meaningful sense of the word “source.” And
so it is with all husbands and wives. It is just not true to say, “the hus-
band is the source of the wife as Christ is the source of the church.” It
makes the verse into nonsense.
To my knowledge, no one has yet produced one text in ancient
Greek literature where a person is called the kephal∑of another person
or group and that person is not the one in authority over that other per-
son or group. Nearly two decades after the publication of my 1985
study, the alleged meaning “source without authority” has still not been
supported with any citation of any text in ancient Greek literature. Over
fifty examples of kephal∑meaning “ruler, authority over” have been
found, but no examples of the meaning of “source without authority.”
Finally, while all the recognized lexicons for ancient Greek, or their
editors, now give kephal∑the meaning “person in authority over” or
(^6) Grudem, “The Meaning of kephal∑(‘head’)” (2001), 25-65.