Allen, Prudence, R.S.M. The Concept of Woman. Vol. 2: the Early Humanist Reformation, 1250-1500.

Tkacz, Catherine Brown

Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002. xxiv + 1161 pp. Paper, $70.00--This volume is as substantial in content as it is in heft. The sequel to the author's The Concept of Woman: The Aristotelian Revolution, 750BC-1250AD (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), the present book continues the ambitious project of analyzing texts that treat the concept of woman using philosophical reasoning or sense-evidence to defend an argument. Ultimately, the goal is to bring the analysis through 2000 A.D. The use of many texts and genres across several centuries to recover information about women also informs Women and Spiritual Equality in Christian Tradition by Patricia Ranft (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998), a work with similar conclusions. A constant theme through both volumes of The Concept of Woman is the complementarity of the sexes: "explanations of the respective identities of woman and of man are both needed to explain the identity of the human being" (p. 2). "A deep impulse in Christianity towards integral gender complementarity reappears at different moments in history," Allen asserts, finding St. Augustine the first to advance complementarity (p. 1089; one may note that in the East as well the spiritual equality of the sexes is preached by Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, and others). She argues that the concepts of woman and of man become more complex with the Renaissance's "discovery of the interiority of the human being" (p. 21). In the fifteenth century such complementarity was renewed by Christine de Pizan, Leonardo Bruni, and Laura Cereta, yet full articulation remained centuries away (p. 1064).

Boldly Allen defines terms afresh, so that "Reformation" means the reforming of the concept of woman and "engendered experience" means "the self-conscious experience of a woman or a man who reflects directly on the meaning of being a female human being or a male human being" (pp. 3, 15-16). Deliberately distancing herself from the notion of passive inculturation of sex-linked behavior, Allen intends instead to facilitate a reflective exercise of human freedom in understanding the concept of woman.

In the first half of the volume separate chapters treat discourses that Allen finds were conducted separately: that of women's monasteries (Beatrice of Nazareth, Hadewijch, Mechtilde of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete), of the universities (Aristotle, and modifications by Albert the Great, St. Thomas, Duns Scotus, and others), of popular satires (including Le roman de la rose and Boccaccio's Corbaccio), and of the humanists (Cavalcanti, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio). A new, "public dialogue about gender" constitutes the second part of the study. The "concise analogies" of Sts. Mechtild and Gertrude of Helfta precede extended analogies elaborated through discursive reasoning by St. Brigid, St. Catherine of Sienna, and others. In a notable contribution to scholarship, Allen clearly and accurately analyzes Julian of Norwich's vision of Jesus as Mother: Allen demonstrates that the mystic's account is compatible with and indeed affirms the maleness of the Second Person of the Trinity (p. 416). Later satires, trials of women (Margery Kempe and St. Joan of Arc), and texts on witchcraft are examined and found to degenerate intergender dialogue.

Inevitably, other relevant material remains to be brought to bear. Presenting women as models for everyone, which Allen documents in the writings of religious women, is likewise found, and earlier, in the lectionary (for example, the Sunday of the Samaritan woman) and in sermons. Also, the handling of the genre and tone of satires, trial accounts, and so forth is sometimes problematic.

Christine de Pizan's "remarkable" work includes her part in the debate over Le Roman de la rose and her Livre de la Cite des dames, in which she refutes in detail Aristotelian-based arguments for gender polarity and presents instead "a genuine complementarity between the genders" (p. 657). Next Allen turns to women's education in philosophy during 1200-1450, including, inter alia, the writings and practice of Vincent of Beauvais, Francesco Barberino, Guarino of Verona, and Vittorino of Feltre. Next she treats the "intense struggle" among philosophers from Nicholas of Cusa through Pico della Mirandola who offered diverse theories of the concept of women. Some philosophers redefined women with respect to utility or pleasure, views that were "severely limiting to the dignity of woman" (p. 934). Three philosophically educated women are then treated: Cassandra Fedele, Isotta Nogarola, and Laura Cereta, whose careers demonstrate that "during the fifteenth century women humanists extended the domain of their studies and influence" (p. 1046). A fitting person for the volume's final focus, Laura Cereta (d. 1499) "did more personally in terms of offering a new humanist model for women's identity than any woman before her" (p. 969) and did so through philosophical arguments and engaging the classical philosophical tradition (pp. 982 and following).

Allen documents the Christian motivation for the reform of the concept of woman: the recognition of Christ as the New Adam and Mary as the New Eve (p. 1067). Clearly this is also the momentum for her own valuable analysis.--Catherine Brown Tkacz, Spokane, Washington.