Abstract

The theologians of first scholastic generation (12th century) gave an allegorical interpretation to the passages of woman as found in Genesis (ch. 2 and 3) and I Corinthians (ch. 11 and 14). The source for such an interpretation was the psychological binary of Philo as reflected in the works of Origen, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine: vir symbolizes ratio speculativa and mulier, ratio practica, or cogitativa, or the sensual appetite. Furthermore, each individual man or woman possesses his or her own vir-mulier binary. The silence of women in church as well as the use of the veil refer to mulier (not woman), that is, the practical reason, cogitativa, or the sensuality