ἀνδρὲς Ἀθηναῖοι

Summary

ἀνδρὲς Ἀθηναῖοι ("Men of Athens," Acts 17:22) demonstrates that anēr ("man") was used in address formulae that included women — Paul could hardly have excluded Athenian women from his gospel proclamation. This weakens the complementarian argument that every occurrence of anēr/andros (as in 1 Tim 2:12, authentein andros) implies an exclusively male referent.

Its significance in WIM scholarship is as a proof-text for the generic use of anēr (man) to address a mixed-gender audience. Article 340 (Bartlett/Williams) cites this passage to demonstrate that anēr, while having "male adult" as its primary lexical meaning, was used in address formulae that included women. Paul could hardly have been excluding the Athenian women from his proclamation of the gospel. Similarly, andres Ioudaioi ("Men of Israel," Acts 2:22; 13:16) and andres adelphoi ("Brothers," Acts 1:16) function as inclusive address forms even when the audience includes women. This is relevant to the WIM debate because complementarian interpreters sometimes argue that the presence of anēr in texts like 1 Tim 2:12 (authentein andros) proves male-specific restriction. The andres Athēnaioi example shows that anēr can function as a conventional male-form address for a mixed group — weakening the argument that every occurrence of anēr/andros implies an exclusively male referent. See also: anēr, gynē, adelphos.