Women inferior?

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dominikus28

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I have been reading lately (on anti-Catholic sites) that St Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine, Tertullian, and other medieval Church figures thought that women are not fully human, or are inferior to men. These sites do quote documents, etc. so I want to be sure that they are interpreting incorrectly or that this was against Church teaching.

Example:
womenpriests.org/theology/aqui_wom.asp

Can someone defend Aquinas on this or was he out of line?
 
“Vis-a-vis [seen as caused by] the natura particularis , a female is deficient and unintentionally caused. For the active power of the semen always seeks to produce a thing completely like itself, something male. So if a female is produced, this must be because the semen is weak or because the material [provided by the female parent] is unsuitable, or because of the action of some external factor such as the winds from the south which make the atmosphere humid. But vis-a-vis [seen as caused by] natura universalis [general Nature] the female is not accidentally caused but is intended by Nature for the work of generation. Now the intentions of Nature come from God, who is its author. This is why, when he created Nature, he made not only the male but also the female” Summa Theologica, 1, qu. 92, art 1, ad 1.
His knowledge of biology is a little screwy, but he basically says that understood from the perspective of what the semen is trying to do (replicate the man) a female child is not the desired end. That is only offensive if you think that semen is sentient, and therefore misogynist. He goes on to say that understood from the perspective of nature the female offspring is desirable and natural. He also says that nature is from God. I understand why one might be offended, but it is not really offensive to women and it certainly does not mean women are deficient- unless you would rather identify with semen than with God.
Later quotes from the page likewise display that he did not have a full understanding of the biology of reproduction. But generally he says that in procreation, the man’s part is active and the woman’s passive. That sounds flawed, and perhaps offensive. But you have to at least acknowledge that it is not baseless. The semen is active, the egg passive.
Even the weird quote about monsters is not totally without redeeming value. He thinks that women are an accident of nature. But he says that they would not be here if God did not desire it. I would rather be here because God want me here than as a biological necessity (though in fact, both are true). Actually, it is complimentary. He is basically saying that every female is a miracle.
In any event, he was not infallible. He made mistakes. You can choose to interpret his writings here loosely, or you can reject them outright. The Church does not teach, and has never taught, that women are inferior.
 
Catechism:

III. “MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM”

Equality and difference willed by God

369 Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman. “Being man” or “being woman” is a reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately from God their Creator.240 Man and woman are both with one and the same dignity “in the image of God”. In their “being-man” and “being-woman”, they reflect the Creator’s wisdom and goodness.

370 In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective “perfections” of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.241

“Each for the other” - “A unity in two”

371 God created man and woman together and willed each for the other. the Word of God gives us to understand this through various features of the sacred text. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him."242 None of the animals can be man’s partner.243 The woman God “fashions” from the man’s rib and brings to him elicits on the man’s part a cry of wonder, an exclamation of love and communion: "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."244 Man discovers woman as another “I”, sharing the same humanity.

372 Man and woman were made “for each other” - not that God left them half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of persons, in which each can be “helpmate” to the other, for they are equal as persons (“bone of my bones. . .”) and complementary as masculine and feminine. In marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming “one flesh”,245 they can transmit human life: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."246 By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman as spouses and parents co-operate in a unique way in the Creator’s work.247

373 In God’s plan man and woman have the vocation of “subduing” the earth248 as stewards of God. This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary and destructive domination. God calls man and woman, made in the image of the Creator “who loves everything that exists”,249 to share in his providence toward other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world God has entrusted to them.
 
Prior to the life of Christ, and especially Pentecost, before the church had begun, women were treated as inferior.

In the pagan world, women were generally considered property.
In the jewish world, a man could divorce a woman with a simple command.

But, when the church entered the temporal plain, women became equal in dignity. This church is the one organization in all of time up to that point that elevated women to equality. They could no longer be divorced at whim or treated as property. Go back in time and imagine what it was like. Can you see now why the catholic faith spread so fast. Stable marriages and extended familes caused an advance in number, quality of life and indeed - humanity itself.

Women are not inferior. They are equal. Our roles are not identical, but we are equal in God’s eyes.
 
His knowledge of biology is a little screwy, but he basically says that understood from the perspective of what the semen is trying to do (replicate the man) a female child is not the desired end. That is only offensive if you think that semen is sentient, and therefore misogynist. He goes on to say that understood from the perspective of nature the female offspring is desirable and natural. He also says that nature is from God. I understand why one might be offended, but it is not really offensive to women and it certainly does not mean women are deficient- unless you would rather identify with semen than with God.

Later quotes from the page likewise display that he did not have a full understanding of the biology of reproduction. But generally he says that in procreation, the man’s part is active and the woman’s passive. That sounds flawed, and perhaps offensive. But you have to at least acknowledge that it is not baseless. The semen is active, the egg passive.

Even the weird quote about monsters is not totally without redeeming value. He thinks that women are an accident of nature. But he says that they would not be here if God did not desire it. I would rather be here because God want me here than as a biological necessity (though in fact, both are true). Actually, it is complimentary. He is basically saying that every female is a miracle.

In any event, he was not infallible. He made mistakes. You can choose to interpret his writings here loosely, or you can reject them outright. The Church does not teach, and has never taught, that women are inferior.
That’s a great reply.

Maybe our bodies differ but our souls are the same.
 
Maybe our bodies differ but our souls are the same.
They are the same…in the sense that they are human…but they are not the same per se.

We are male and female…right to the soul.
 
When we get to heaven, all of this will be perfectly clear. Till then, we should follow our Church and give assent to the teachings it provides on this matter.

There is only one winner when we are painfully divided along gender lines - the devil himself. We are left fighting with each other. We lose and fewer souls make it to heaven to be with God for eternity.
 
They are the same…in the sense that they are human…but they are not the same per se.

We are male and female…right to the soul.
What I meant by different as human was the physiological differences.
But our souls are the same, God wouldn’t give me a better soul than you.

:hug1:
 
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