“The Hour of Woman” and Edith Stein: Catholic New Feminist Responses to Essentialism

This article examines how Edith Stein’s philosophical and theological anthropology is foundational to the “new feminism” that both Paul VI and John Paul II called for in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. In particular, this article shows how Stein helps to respond to Simone de Beauvoir’s argum...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Main Author: Köhler-Ryan, Renée (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI [2020]
In: Religions
Further subjects:B Paul VI
B John Paul II
B Essentialism
B psycho-physical personhood
B Second Vatican Council
B female ordination
B feminine genius
B Edith Stein
B Simone de Beauvoir
B critical essentialism
B New Feminism
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Summary:This article examines how Edith Stein’s philosophical and theological anthropology is foundational to the “new feminism” that both Paul VI and John Paul II called for in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. In particular, this article shows how Stein helps to respond to Simone de Beauvoir’s argument that taking women’s biology into consideration leads to essentialism with political implications. This article outlines main themes in the new feminism, and gives a brief overview of the ideas about the “hour of woman” and the “feminine genius” pronounced by popes Paul VI and John Paul II. This article then describes and analyzes Stein’s psycho-physical theory of the human person. Finally, this article considers the importance of Stein’s thought for feminist theology, with brief application to the issue of the ordination of women to the priesthood.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel11060271