06 — Woman and the Salvation of the World
La Femme et le salut du monde: Étude d’anthropologie chrétienne sur les charismes de la femme (1958) is Evdokimov’s best-known and most contested book. Its thesis is double and is often heard only in half: that the androcentrism of society and of the Church is a real disorder and lies at the root of much modern evil; and that the remedy is not the assimilation of women to a male norm but the recovery of a Christian anthropology in which masculine and feminine are ontologically distinct and carry distinct charisms. This section expounds the book on its own terms. The criticism is treated in 08 — The Critique.
Tradition: Russian Orthodox (emigration)
Files
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Book and Its Argument | The 1958 book, its occasion, its structure, its diagnosis of androcentrism, and its reception |
| The Charisms of the Feminine | The masculine–Logos and feminine–Spirit correlation, the Theotokos as the archetype, the use of Jung, and the question of ordination |
Why This Section Matters
Evdokimov was, on the testimony of his friend Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, for a long time the only Orthodox theologian to consider the women’s movement with interest and sympathy (the judgement is Behr-Sigel’s, reported in Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, Woman, Women, and the Priesthood in the Trinitarian Theology of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, T&T Clark, 2013). Whatever one concludes about his answers, he asked the question at a time when Orthodox theology was not asking it, and the Orthodox conversation about women that runs from the Agapia consultation of 1976 to the present begins substantially from him.
A §4.1 statement, and it should be read carefully. Nothing in this section is the dogma of the Orthodox Church. The Church confesses that men and women are alike made in the image of God, alike redeemed, alike called to holiness, and that in Christ “there is neither male nor female” (Galatians 3:28); it maintains a male presbyterate and episcopate. Beyond that it has no defined doctrine of gender. The correlation of the masculine with the Son and the feminine with the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of distinct ontological charisms, and the theological use of Jungian archetypes are Paul Evdokimov’s own theological constructions, presented here as his and contested by other Orthodox.
See Also
- 08 — The Critique — Behr-Sigel and the substantive objections
- Women in Orthodoxy — the hub essay
- Elisabeth Behr-Sigel — his friend, successor and critic in this conversation
References
- Evdokimov, Paul. La Femme et le salut du monde: Étude d’anthropologie chrétienne sur les charismes de la femme. Tournai/Paris: Casterman, 1958. English: Woman and the Salvation of the World: A Christian Anthropology on the Charisms of Women, trans. Anthony P. Gythiel. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1994.
- Hinlicky Wilson, Sarah. Woman, Women, and the Priesthood in the Trinitarian Theology of Elisabeth Behr-Sigel. London: T&T Clark, 2013.