Women and the soul?

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If found this quote on the Catholic Encyclopedia (this site )page on women, “The female sex is in some respects inferior to the male sex, both as regards body and soul.”

I’m kind of baffled? Catholic teaching is that while different, Man and Woman are equal in God’s eyes. And that the soul come from God.

A direct quote from the CC says that "In creating men ‘male and female,’ God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity."119 "Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God.“120”
 
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Catholicwoman said:
If found this quote on Catholic Answers page on women, “The female sex is in some respects inferior to the male sex, both as regards body and soul.”

I’m kind of baffled? Catholic teaching is that while different, Man and Woman are equal in God’s eyes. And that the soul come from God.

A direct quote from the C.F. says that "In creating men ‘male and female,’ God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity."119 "Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God.“120”
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Do you have a link to where you read about inferiority? Keep in mind anyone can sign up and post on the Catholic Answer Forums. These forums are separate from the radio show, articles, magazines, tracts, etc…
 
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If found this quote on Catholic Answers page on women, “The female sex is in some respects inferior to the male sex, both as regards body and soul.”

No – problem ----they are just wrong. 😃
 
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This looks like it’s from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, not a Catholic Answers original. While old, the Encyclopedia as a whole can be a useful reference on many topics.
 
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Yeah, I think my confusion is basically why is it there? It’s not a official teaching …
 
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If you read the next sentence:
“The female sex is in some respects inferior to the male sex, both as regards body and soul. On the other hand, woman has qualities which man lacks.”
As the paragraph also contains statements on equal dignity I assume that cited part is just - a bit clumsy - formulation of the fact that men and women are different and usually will excell in different fields both physically, mentally and spiritually.
 
Shakuhachi said:
The next line doesn’t really help.
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It’s speaking to the differences between men and women. We aren’t the same. Men lack in some regards where women excel and vice versa.

It’s not a philosophy text, it’s an encyclopedia entry. This isn’t anything dogmatic.
 
It would make sense if we talk about the “body” (Women and men are different in phsyical structure and emotional support) but i am very skeptic about the part of the soul, since i have no reason to believe why the soul of a woman would present defects compared to that of a man.
 
Syttu said:
It would make sense if we talk about the “body” (Women and men are different in phsyical structure and emotional support) but i am very skeptic about the part of the soul, since i have no reason to believe why the soul of a woman would present defects compared to that of a man.
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We are the union of body and soul.

It may not be the best wording, but again— encyclopedia article not dogmatic pronouncement.
 
Yes, it should also be added that the Encyclopedia presents as well the opinion of the author, not in any necessity Church Dogma.
 
Yeah, I think the most important thing for me here is that this isn’t from the Church. It is I guess, either just someone’s opinion or a mishap in trying to explain that we are different. There is no reason to believe or think that the SOUL of Man and Woman are different. They are gifts from God.
 
I see now, it is really referring to the prior statement:

“Aristotle’s designation of woman as an incomplete or mutilated man (“De animal. gennerat.”, II, 3d ed. Berol., 773a) must, therefore, be rejected. The untenable medieval definition, “Femina est mas occasionatus”, also arose under Aristotelian influence. The same view is to be found in the “last Scholastic”, Dionysius Ryckel (“Opera minora”, ed. Tournay, 1907, II, 161a).”
 
Catholicwoman said:
If found this quote on the Catholic Encyclopedia (this site )page on women, “The female sex is in some respects inferior to the male sex, both as regards body and soul.”

I’m kind of baffled? Catholic teaching is that while different, Man and Woman are equal in God’s eyes. And that the soul come from God.

A direct quote from the CC says that "In creating men ‘male and female,’ God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity."119 "Man is a person, man and woman equally so, since both were created in the image and likeness of the personal God.“120”
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I believe it is from St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Thelogiae, I, Q.92 The production of the woman, Article 1. Whether the woman should have been made in the first production of things?
Reply to Objection 2: Subjection is twofold. One is servile, by virtue of which a superior makes use of a subject for his 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 their own benefit and good; and this kind of subjection existed even before sin. For good order would have been wanting in the human family if some were not governed by others wiser than themselves. So by such a kind of subjection woman is naturally subject to man, because in man the discretion of reason predominates.
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http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1092.htm

However there is equal dignity, per St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Thelogiae, I, Q.92 The production of the woman, Article 3. Whether the woman was fittingly made from the rib of man?
I answer that, It was right for the woman to be made from a rib of man. First, to signify the social union of man and woman, for the woman should neither use authority over man,’ and so she was not made from his head; nor was it right for her to be subject to man’s contempt as his slave, and so she was not made from his feet.
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In general the ideas are:
  • The perfect female is the most feminine, and the perfect male is the most manly.
  • Genesis 2:18,19: “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will give him a helpmate.”
  • 1 Corinthians 11:10 that “man was not created for the sake of woman, but woman was created for the sake of man.”
  • Ephesians 5:22 “a husband is the head of his wife,”
 
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