The Masculine and Feminine Identity in the Work of Jacques Maritain with Regard to the Document of the Cogregation for Catholic Education on Gender Cover Image

L’identité masculine et féminine chez Jacques Maritain face au document de la Congrégation pour l’éducation catholique sur le genre
The Masculine and Feminine Identity in the Work of Jacques Maritain with Regard to the Document of the Cogregation for Catholic Education on Gender

Author(s): Lukáš Jan Fošum
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: Jacques Maritain; Masculinity and femininity; Theological anthropology; Congregation for Catholic Education

Summary/Abstract: The recent document of the Congregation for Catholic Education on the question of gender ‘Male and Female He Created Them’ emphasises the importance of the sexual difference for the masculine and feminine identity. On the other hand, in his essay ‘Faisons-lui une aide semblable à lui’ written in 1967, Jacques Maritain insists that this difference is more a difference of the soul than a difference of the body and that it will last also when the bodies are resurrected after death. His concept of the masculine and feminine specificity is based both on biblical and philosophical arguments. Without inclining to feminism, Maritain underlines especially the way in which a woman is different from a man. This study tries to show, how Maritain’s ideas about the sub-specificity of man’s and woman’s soul can be complementary to the anthropology of the above-mentioned document of the Congregation for Catholic Education. Furthermore, it shows also a critical point of view of Maritain’s idea of manhood and womanhood with the emphasis on the philosophical terms which are used for the difference between man and woman.

  • Issue Year: 10/2020
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 107-121
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: French