Revisiting Genesis 1 and 2: Man, Woman, and the Mission of the Laity
Perhaps it goes without saying that the question of man and woman has become the question of our era. The confusion and controversy that has erupted over the last few decades has brought humanity face to face with a question that, strangely, has never been adequately answered. What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a woman? How are men and women equal? Are they? In what sense are they different? Is that difference merely a matter of biology – or is there something more to it? These are questions that are begging for a response, one that affirms the dignity and charisms of both sexes, while revealing the significance of their jointly held mission to serve as stewards of God’s creation.
Dr. Deborah Savage has been pursuing the Catholic response to these questions for more than a decade. Given the drama unfolding before our eyes in the culture, in our legal system in our schools, even in competitive sports, the Faith Formation team has invited Dr. Savage to present her findings to the parish. Building on the work of Pope St. John Paul II, her research has unearthed the profound wisdom concerning the nature of man and woman, their respective identities, and their genius – which, as she will show, is discernable in the creation accounts found in Genesis 1-3. Many have likely heard that St. John Paul describes something he refers to as a “feminine genius,” a reality known to all of us. But Dr. Savage will argue that the Genesis accounts also illuminate the presence of a masculine genius, another reality that is often overlooked and largely ignored. And she will point to the surprising resonance between the account of man and woman found in Scripture and recent scientific discoveries regarding both their equality and what distinguishes them.
Her talk will shed light on the nature of man and woman but, perhaps most importantly, affirm the significance of these questions for the mission of the laity and the future of humanity. For, as St. John Paul II declares in his Letter to Women: it is this complementarity which gives us our mission – which is to create, not only human families, but human history itself.
