προβολεύς

Summary

προβολεύς ("progenitor, originator") appears alongside gennētēs in Photius's commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:3, articulating the "source of life" interpretation of kephalē: the head is the one who begets and originates. This patristic witness supports the egalitarian reading that kephalē in 1 Cor 11:3 and Eph 5:23 denotes origin/source — as a physical head nourishes the body — not hierarchical authority.

In the WIM context it appears alongside gennētēs in Photius of Constantinople's commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:3, where Photius offers "source of life" as one possible meaning of kephalē, using both gennētēs and proboleus to articulate this: the head is the one who begets and originates. Article 334 discusses this in the context of the kephalē debate — whether "head" means "authority over" or "source/origin." The egalitarian position (Berkeley and Alvera Mickelsen, Philip Payne, Andrew Bartlett) holds that kephalē in 1 Cor 11:3 and Eph 5:23 denotes origin/source (as a physical head is the source of nourishment and life for the body), not hierarchical authority. The use of proboleus in a patristic source supports this exegetical tradition. Note that in Gnostic cosmology, probolē (emanation) is a key term for how the divine pleroma generates lesser beings — Photius's use here is non-Gnostic and simply philological. Related: gennētēs, kephalē.