My research on the head covering, Part 3: Does it mean that a male church leader can be a woman's "covering?"

THE INTERPRETATION THAT A WOMAN’S HUSBAND OR PASTOR OR A CHURCH ELDER IS HER “COVERING.”

This is another interpretation of the nature of the covering that I have personally encountered in charismatic circles, where an official male overseer is appointed over the ministries of women, usually in parachurch organizations. I’m not sure it has enough status to include it here but I do so just because I have run across it and the charismatic movement is a very big movement. I’ve also found this idea mentioned here and there in my research but have not pursued it further for my current purposes.

An objection to this interpretation is that it requires allegorizing the passage, turning the concrete idea of wearing a headcovering into a poetic way of saying the woman needs to have a specific male head to oversee her praying and prophesying. In this case as well as the interpretation that the required covering is the hair, one has to ask why Paul would be so indirect. If he meant a male overseer wouldn’t he have said directly he meant a male overseer? He wouldn’t have resorted to indirect terms like “cover” and “uncover” that would only create unnecessary ambiguity and obscure his real meaning.

TO BE CONTINUED.