The man-woman otherness in the context of a Christian civilization

This article by Elisabeth Behr-Sigel, the first part of a larger study published in an interdisciplinary collective volume, examines the question of male-female otherness in the light of the biblical and patristic tradition. Adopting both an exegetical and theological approach, the author begins from an anthropological and cultural observation — the subordination of women in traditional societies and the profound transformation brought about by modernity — in order to interrogate the scriptural foundations of the male-female relationship. The study analyzes the two creation narratives in Genesis as well as the narrative of the Fall, confronting patristic interpretations with their misogynistic limitations and their spiritual contributions. The principal contribution lies in the highlighting of a tension, within the Christian tradition, between the affirmation of the ontological equality of human persons and the persistence of cultural patterns of subordination, a tension that contemporary Orthodox reflection is called upon to transcend.