Bible translators masculinized Junia to protect apostolic gender doctrine

Evidence

The greatest terrors of translation, in Chris’s view, have to do with sex. New words could mean a new gender order. “In Romans there’s a woman named Junia, whom Paul said was outstanding among the apostles,” he explains. “Many early writers believed that she was indeed a woman. At some point, though, there was this thought that ‘apostle’ wasn’t a role women should have, and you see a masculine form of the name, ‘Junias,’ start to appear. Some translations highlight this tension in the footnotes, but others don’t mention it. She just became a man.” — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 94

Categorization

• CANDY: Fun fact for dinner conversation: a female apostle was edited into a man in some translations.
• SHARE: Send to anyone interested in textual criticism or women’s church history — the Junia case is a compact example.
• XREF: Bears on the author’s earlier chapter on Christian nationalism as a political (not religious) creed, and on women’s submission messaging from Harris earlier in this chapter. — connects to: Christian doctrine institutionalized women’s subordination despite early egalitarian impulses — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 204; Bible translators masculinized the female apostle Junia to match doctrinal gender roles. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 94

Broader Connections

• Christian doctrine institutionalized women’s subordination despite early egalitarian impulses #exemplifies (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 204