13 February 2012

Humans

I know I've read Are Women Human? by Dorothy Sayers, but I don't own it and Google suffices to turn up the generally favored bits. Dorothy is obviously much more gifted than I in such matters, but now I can't remember if her essays contained what I think is simplest answer to her quasi-rhetorical question: it is certain that women are human because Jesus is a man. The saving of our fallen race did not require sex-specific incarnations, much less experiences. Male and female he created them, male and female he redeemed them. "That which he has not assumed he has not healed," and he himself has said, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."

3 comments:

Dawn said...

I have on my shelf and am eager to begin reading Alice von Hildebrand's The Privilege of Being a Woman. I understand it will explain for me how it is that women are human in relation to, yet apart from men. I am waiting for quiet to materialize and ease my fatigued brain's way, so it might be some time before I get to it. :P

I no longer question to what degree I am human, but it is clear that my humanity is fully different than a man's, because flesh is that huge a deal. It is but a part of what it stands for. Male and female he made them, but Adam was fully human before Eve came on the scene. So if Eve is fully human (and Mary shows that she is) than her humanity is Other from Adam's. She can stand on her own. Or she could have.

Never mind this, though. I only type it 'cause I'm trapped under a baby and have nothing else to do.

pekoponian said...

Hmm. I have never wondered whether I were human.

Rebekah said...

pkpn, just as well.

Gauntlets, tell us what you thought of that one when you get a chance. I've got it here but I'd rather hear you talk about it than me.