Cheryl Schatz

LNE,
You also said:

what was shameful in the culture of Paul’s day, that the “covered” head of the man is long effeminate hair which Paul says is disgraceful for a man to have “down from the head”

This is impossible because of the Nazarite vow. God required a man who took a Nazarite vow to let his hair grow without cutting it until the vow was complete. God cannot say that a man with long hair who has taken a vow is a shameful thing and calling God’s rules as “effeminate” is a worldly attack on a man. God never calls long hair an effeminate thing nor can God sin by forcing a godly man who has taken a godly vow to do an ungodly thing. It just isn’t a Scriptural argument.

The thought that a woman’s hair must be kept wrapped up to be a “covering” doesn’t fit either with the Scriptures for nature cannot “teach” that it is an honor for a woman to have long hair and a dishonor for a man to have long hair. Nature teaches us that hair grows naturally on men and women until the hair is cut. God’s creation of the hair on one’s head is not different for a man and a woman in that one is naturally given short hair and one is naturally given long hair. Paul’s multiple levels of arguments are that it is not even nature that necessitates the length of one’s hair.

Lastly you said:

my question is still whether a woman is permitted to go without it, or is expressly told she must go all the way and have her head shaved

Check out the Greek carefully. There is no imperative of any sort about shaving the head. It is only conditional “if” the woman has shame if she has a shaved head, then she is permitted to wear the covering to cover her shaved, bald head.

Hopefully this has helped to answer your questions. Thanks for asking!