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Voices Online Edition
Pentecost 2002
Volume XVII, No. 2
Winner of Voices Young Writer's Award Contest
Whether Christ changed the role of woman
by Elizabeth Ruth Cheffers
Elizabeth Cheffers is a sixteen-year-old
senior at Trivium School in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, the
eldest of ten children of Grace and Mark Cheffers of Worcester.
She plans to spend next year in Australia, her birthplace, working
in an Opus Dei retreat house near Sydney. Trivium is a private
school for grades 7-12. Objections: Sed contra... Respondeo dicendum Conclusion
For information about Trivium
School, contact **Women for Faith &
Family operates solely on your generous donations. ** WFF is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax deductible.
This essay was her senior thesis. The assignment required following
the format of the great 13th century Dominican scholastic theologian,
Saint Thomas Aquinas. In his Summa theologica, this form
included the question (Utrum... - whether...), the objections,
the body of the argument (Sed contra - on the contrary),
answering the objections (Respondeo dicendum), and conclusion
- the form followed in this essay. We are pleased to inaugurate
the Voices Publication Award with this essay, which we found
thoughtful and engaging - and we suspect that the "Angelic
Doctor" himself would agree. - Editor
[Details
about the Young Writers Award.]
Whether Christ
changed the role of woman.
"It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him
a helper as his partner." (Gen 2:18)
With these words God created woman, and presented her to man
so that they might in union fill and subdue the Earth. Unfortunately,
man and woman sinned, and as a result, not only was their relationship
with God distorted, but their relationship with each other was
also damaged, such that the woman was subordinated to the man
in an unnatural and false way. He made whole again the relationship
between man and woman, and restored woman to her original place
alongside man, but I say He did more than that. I say that Christ
not only restored woman to her original position as a partner
with man, but also lifted her up to be a partner with Him.
Someone might object to the starting premise that woman was in
the original order equal in dignity to man by asking, "what
could a woman be useful for that another man would not be able
to do better?" For, the The Angelic Doctor says, woman was
made, "not , indeed, as a helpmate in other works, as some
say, but as a helper in the works of generation" because
"man can be more efficiently helped by another man in other
works".1 If woman was made solely for the purpose
of generation, then she is clearly less a person than man, who
exists for his own sake.
A second man might object to the statement that the relationship
between man and woman could be changed. Aristotle himself says,
"the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior;
and the one rules, and the other is ruled. For that which can
foresee by the exercise of the mind is by nature intended to
be lord and master, and that which can with its body give effect
to such foresight is a subject, and by nature a slave".2
Or in another place, "the female is a misbegotten male".3 Therefore,
it is in man's very nature that he should rule over woman as
his intellectual inferior. Christ would not change the nature
of creatures.
On the contrary, Pope John Paul II says concerning the dignity
of all women: "Each of them from the beginning inherits
as a woman the dignity of personhood. Jesus of Nazareth confirms
this dignity, recalls it, renews it, and makes it a part of the
Gospel and of the Redemption".4
In order to fully understand how Christ elevated woman, we must
first understand the role of woman in the garden, and then the
role of woman after the Fall.
The words of Genesis "in the image of God He created them,
male and female He created them" (Gen 1:27) make it clear
that man and woman are both created in the image of God and so
are equally persons, being made in the image of a personal God.5
The fact that they are both made in the image of God means not
only that they are individually like Him. It also means that
"man and woman, created as a 'unity of the two'6
in their common humanity, are called to live in a communion of
love, and in this way to mirror in the world the communion of
love that is in God, through which the Three Persons love each
other in the intimate mystery of the one divine life".7
Or, as the Magisterium teaches in Gaudium et Spes, to
be a person who fully images forth the Triune God means to be
a person who "can only find himself through a sincere gift
of self".8 Woman was created to help man live more
fully in the image of God by being the one to whom man could
give himself. If woman were meant to live for man, but not man
for woman, then woman would reflect the image of God more fully
than man.
Many people, influenced by the effects of original sin, think
the fact that God created woman as a "helper" for man
meant that he was to rule over and dominate her as his subject.
But this is not true, for as Saint Thomas Aquinas says, "Subjection
is twofold. One is servile, by virtue of which a superior makes
use of his subjects for the superior's own benefit; and this
kind of subjection began after sin. There is another kind of
subjection which is called economic or civil, whereby the superior
makes use of his subjects for the subject's own benefit; and
this kind of subjection existed even before sin".9
It is clear that the second type of subjection is really a mutual
subjection between the two parties. This is because if the superior
puts the subject's benefit first, the superior subjects his will
to the good of the subject before asking the subject to submit
to him. Saint Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, calls man
and woman to live this out by a life of "mutual subjection
out of reverence for Christ", (Eph 5:21) As John Paul II
says, this idea of mutual subjection is clearly "an innovation
of the Gospel",10 when seen in comparison with the old
idea of the sole subjection of woman to man.
The order of the relationship between man and woman changes,
of course, when man chooses to disobey God. After telling Eve
that she will suffer pain in childbirth, God says, "Yet
your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over
you". From this point on, the relationship between man and
woman is inclined to be deformed by the first kind of subjection
described by Saint Thomas; a superior making use of a subject
for the superior's own benefit.
The effect of this curse can be clearly seen through history,
and especially through the Old Testament. Although holy women
are mentioned in the Old Testament, they are looked at as property
of a man, not persons in their own right. This can be seen by
the fact that many of the patriarchs had more than one wife.
Jewish men even used to say a prayer of thanksgiving to God that
they were made men, and not women.11
When Christ came, He changed the worldly perception of the inherent
dignity of a woman. Christ treats women as persons in the own
right; He does not hesitate to speak of the great matters of
faith with them. He speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well
about the "living water", (Jn 4:10) with Martha about
the fact that He is "the resurrection and the life",
(Jn 11:25) and calls an old woman with a stoop "a daughter
of Abraham", (Lk 13:16) while up to the point only the phrase
"son of Abraham" appeared in Scripture. Women are the
only ones at the foot of the cross, besides Saint John. They
are the first witnesses of the resurrection. Christ prays to
the Father "that all may be one as we are one", and
acts accordingly. Christ did not elevate woman to a place above
man, but the change in the role of woman after Christ came was
more dramatic than the change in the role of man. Christ had
to first fully restore woman's dignity and personhood to her
before He could elevate both man and woman to an even higher
calling.
Christ introduces this higher calling, the concept of celibacy
for the kingdom of heaven, when He says, "there are eunuchs
who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He
who is able to receive this let him receive it" (Mt 19:12).
Woman, as well as man, is elevated above her original position
in the garden by this call to be a sign of heaven where "they
neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but live like angels
in heaven" (Mk 12:25). Christ also elevates motherhood from
a motherhood of the flesh to one of the spirit by being born
of Mary. Just as all women had inherited the calling to be a
physical mother from Eve, all women now inherit the calling to
be a spiritual mother from Mary.
In answer to the first objection, that woman is useful only as
a means for man to propagate the human race, because in an other
matter a man would be better, I say that when God saw "it
is not good for man to be alone" (Gen 2:18), He gave Adam
not another man to heal his loneliness, but a woman. Man cannot
give himself to another man as he can give himself to a woman.12
As was explained before, man and woman are not just made in the
image of God individually, but as a communion of persons, they
mirror the way in which the three persons of the Trinity complete
one another. Because both man and woman are made in the image
of God, the qualities of masculinity and femininity that each
possesses are both present in God, and so each is necessary to
complete the other's very being. Therefore, woman is created
for her own sake as well as for man. The Church affirms the truth
that women are not only necessary to produce children by stating
that marriage has two ends; unitive and procreative.13
The old idea that polygamy is permissible is a clear effect of
the idea that woman created for the purpose of generation. If
woman were created for the purpose of propagating the human race,
then it would be a good thing for a man to have more than one
wife, because he could have more children. Marriage is not just
for the purpose of procreation; it is also intended for the mutual
perfection of the spouses.
In answer to the second objection, that it is reasonable that
man should rule over woman: Aristotle is correct in that man
is the natural head of woman. Aristotle is clearly affected by
original sin, however, in his view of why a husband should practice
this headship. Aristotle saw the relationship falsely because
he started with the premise that woman is by nature a slave,
not being intelligent enough to do anything but use her body.
Just because woman is, in the natural order, subject to man,
does not mean that she is less intelligent. Presuming the analogy
between the created and the creator, one could also ask why the
Father is the sender and the Son is sent. Clearly it is not because
of any deficiency in the Son. The mystery of why the Father is
the initiator and why man is the head is too great to comprehend,
but it is foolishness to assume that it is because of a higher
level of intelligence.
In conclusion, it can be easily seen that when Christ came He
restored to woman her original place with man. As the Church
sings in the Easter sequence, however, the sin of Adam was a
"Happy Fault", because when Christ came He lifted man
and woman up to a place they had not possessed in the garden.
He made them able to participate in the kingdom of heaven here
on Earth through a life of celibacy. He elevated motherhood from
a motherhood purely of flesh to one also of the spirit.
What Christ did not do was change the essential submissive character
of femininity. He did something greater than simply giving woman
earthly power. He made submission by free choice and out of love
the highest good of mankind by His example of submission to the
Father. The mystery of femininity, that "to serve means
to reign" 14 is also the essential mystery and beauty
of Christianty itself.
Notes:
1. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
(New York:Fathers of the English Dominican Providence, 1920)
http://www.newadvent.org
2. Aristotle, The Works of Aristotle-Politics
(Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1921), 1253.
3. ibid, p. 1254
4. Pope John Paul II, Mulieris
Dignitatem [Dignity and Vocation of Women] (Boston: Saint
Paul Books and Media, 1988) http://www.vatican.va
5. ibid
6. Catechism of the Catholic Church
(Saint Paul: The Wanderer Press, 1994), 414.
7. Pope John Paul II, Mulieris
Dignitatem
8. ibid.
9. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
(New York:Fathers of the English Dominican Providence, 1920)
http://www.newadvent.org
10. Pope John Paul II, Mulieris
Dignitatem
11. Louis Bouyer, Woman in the Church
(New York: Ignatius Press, 1989), 35.
12. Pope John Paul II, Theology of the
Body (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 1997), 60
13. Catechism of the Catholic Church (Saint Paul: The Wanderer Press, 1994),
108.
14. Pope John Paul II, Mulieris
Dignitatem
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