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Dr Taylor Marshall Podcast

Video: Eve - Is Woman a Misbegotten Male? (Thomas Aquinas vs. Aristotle)

Dr Taylor Marshall Podcast

Dr. Taylor Marshall

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.74K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2014

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is going to be controversial! Today we look at the classical and medieval understandings of woman as she relates to man. We do so by looking at the Genesis account and along the way we get into some dicey theology. (http://taylormarshall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-08-at-10.53.35-AM.png)If you're a rock-ribbed feminist, you may want to stop reading here. Just sayin'. Thomas Aquinas locks horns with Aristotle on this issue of "woman as misbegotten male." I think you’ll find this video especially interesting and helpful as you engage with others who argue that "The story of Adam and Eve is misogynistic!" You'll also learn about Thomas Aquinas' philosophy. As always, I look forward to the comments!!! By the way this video is the last of a series of NSTI videos that we've been releasing for the past two weeks from the New Saint Thomas Institute (http://newsaintthomas.com/live). On Tuesday July 8 at 11:59pm the tuition will go from $37 to $47! This sale is only available for a few more hours. We will also close registration. If you join before 11:59pm July 8 you will get all the amazing bonuses worth (over $119), a tuition rate cut, and the Certificate in Theology. And you get a 21 day full money back guarantee! This sale will never be available again. If you've thought about joining the New Saint Thomas Institute, this is the day. Do it before 11:59pm July 8. Click here to sign up and get the tuition sale before 11:50pm Tuesday July 8. (http://newsaintthomas.com/live) Here's the video on: "Eve - Is Woman a Misbegotten Male? (Thomas Aquinas)" (http://taylormarshall.com/2014/07/video-woman-misbegotten-male.html) You can get videos like this every week through the New Saint Thomas Institute (http://newsaintthomas.com) Here's the mp3/audio version if you want to listen to it or download it: What does “Eveâ€\x9d mean? Eve comes from the Hebrew: חַוָּה‎, pronounced Havah or Hawah. Eve in the Hebrew language is ḤawwÄ\x81h, meaning: “living oneâ€\x9d or “source of lifeâ€\x9d, and is related to ḥÄ\x81yâ, “to liveâ€\x9d. The name derives from the Semitic root ḥyw. Why the Rib? (STh I, q. 92, a. 3.) Thomas Aquinas gives this account: 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,â€\x9d 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. Secondly, for the sacramental signification; for from the side of Christ sleeping on the Cross the Sacraments flowed–namely, blood and water–on which the Church was established. Aristotle on “Female as Misbegotten Maleâ€\x9d Aristotle was a Greek philosopher before the time of Christ. He had been a student of Plato. Aristotle was brilliant and the rediscovery of Aristotle in the Middle Ages led to a renaissance in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim intellectual circles – especially in the fields of science. While the Church Fathers taught “immediateâ€\x9d conception, Aristotle taught a “delayedâ€\x9d conception. Consequently, Aristotle taught that “the female is a misbegotten male.â€\x9d Aristotle, De Gener. ii, 3. Thomas Aquinas depends on Aristotle quite a bit, but not slavishly. Thomas frequently points out where and why Aristotle is wrong on hundreds of points. So it is interesting to see Thomas wrestle with Aristotle on the “statusâ€\x9d of women in the scope of creation. Here’s the answer from Thomas Aquinas (it’s in more detail in the video lesson): “Reply to Objection 1. As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence; such as that of a south wind

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

When you're

0:02.0

have a glory goes in,

0:06.0

now on for this

0:08.0

for is still in all.

0:12.0

Some green is very clear. All right. This is probably going to be the most controversial video

0:20.3

video lesson that we've ever done. We're going to look at that passage in

0:24.7

Thomas Aquinas where he's talking about Aristotle's idea that woman is a

0:29.4

misbegotten male. So all of you female members of the new St. Thomas Institute

0:34.5

get ready you're going to want to listen to this one and we're also going to talk

0:37.7

about Eve and the creation of Eve and the significance of the rib and her name.

0:44.1

And I want to thank right off the bat, Vanessa.

0:46.7

She's a member of the New St. Thomas Institute.

0:48.3

And when she joined several months ago,

0:50.6

she said, oh, please, please, please, talk about Thomas Aquinas's understanding of women.

0:57.6

Is Thomas Aquinas anti-woman?

0:59.4

I love a class on that.

1:00.8

So this class is for you, Vanessa. Okay, so the creation of woman, the

1:06.7

creation of Eve, her name Eve, actually in Hebrew is Chava, Chava, and it means living one.

1:16.2

The origin of life, the source of life,

1:18.8

it's related to the Hebrew verb, to live, and she is the mother of all the living. She is the great

1:25.8

great great great great great great grandmother of all of us all of us to

1:30.0

send from her and as a side note, there was a medieval mystic named Saint Matilda.

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