On the Dress of Women

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–1.9 · 2.1–2.13

1. 1.1Tertullian tells Christian women that, as daughters of Eve bearing the guilt of the first sin, they should dress in penitence rather than finery.
2. 1.2The fallen angels of Genesis 6 taught women jewelry, dyes, and cosmetics; Christians, who will judge those angels, should not covet their gifts.
3. 1.3Tertullian defends the Book of Enoch as Scripture, though the Jews exclude it: Noah could have preserved or restored it, it speaks of Christ, and Jude quotes it.
4. 1.4Tertullian distinguishes “dress” (gold, jewels, clothes), which shows ambition, from “adornment” (hair and skin), which invites lust.
5. 1.5Gold and silver are only earth, mined by convicts, and less useful than iron and bronze; their prestige is baseless.
6. 1.6Gems are mere pebbles and pearls a shellfish's wart; a Christian woman who wears a gem from a serpent's head cannot tread on the devil's head.
7. 1.7Where gold and gems are common, as among barbarians and Parthians, they are despised; their value is only rarity.
8. 1.8Dyed cloth is an “adultery of colors” God did not make; that materials come from God no more justifies vanity than it justifies spectacles or idolatry.
9. 1.9Rarity breeds covetousness and ambition, which inflate prices until a woman wears estates and fortunes on her neck, ears, and fingers.
10. 2.1Addressing Christian women, Tertullian argues that chastity, the guardian of the Spirit's temple, requires modest outward dress, not merely bodily integrity.
11. 2.2Women should not seek to be desired, both for their own safety and because a man who lusts after them sins in his heart; even natural beauty should be downplayed.
12. 2.3Even harmless beauty is useless to chaste women and not a proper object of glory; Christians glory in the flesh only when it suffers for Christ.
13. 2.4A wife need please only her husband; a Christian husband does not require beauty, and a pagan one suspects it.
14. 2.5Cosmetics criticize God's workmanship and borrow the devil's art; they are a lie of the face and an adultery of appearance.
15. 2.6Dyeing the hair blond or black harms it, resembles offering to idols, and contradicts Christ's word; hiding old age is foolish for those who long to depart to the Lord.
16. 2.7Elaborate hairstyles and wigs defy Christ's word and may use hair from the damned; God commands women to be veiled, and nothing artificial will rise at the resurrection.
17. 2.8Men too are tempted to vanity in grooming, and must likewise renounce it, since chastity requires gravity in face and dress.
18. 2.9Rich clothing serves vanity; like those who renounce marriage or wine for God, Christian women should use wealth as if not using it, since the time is short.
19. 2.10God did not invent dyes, jewelry, or pierced ears; these came from the fallen angels, and even permitted things are tests best met by abstaining.
20. 2.11Christian women go out only for grave purposes, such as visiting the sick, the Eucharist, or hearing the word, and need no finery; the fear that plainness brings blasphemy is misplaced.
21. 2.12Christian women dressed like courtesans invite just blame; Scripture describes the harlot city in purple and gold, and Tamar was taken for a harlot by her dress.
22. 2.13Christian chastity must be visible, like a light on a hill; women should shed luxuries that would weaken them for chains and martyrdom and adorn themselves with modesty, God's word, and Christ's yoke.