The Eternal Woman: The Timeless Meaning of the Feminine by Gertrud von le Fort

The Eternal Woman: The Timeless Meaning of the Feminine Reviews

• 
  booklady

  In the forward to the 1954 edition of Gertrude von le Fort’s classic work on the timeless meaning of the feminine, we are told this work was first published in Germany in 1934. As Hitler was beginning his meteoric rise to power which would change the face of Europe for decades this slim volume on the eternal importance of womanhood to all of humanity also came into being ... sadly overshadowed by those events.
  
  The Eternal Woman looks at Woman and her incalculable value to humanity from the symbolic aspect. As such, it is written using the language of imagery which may present difficulty for some readers. However the interplay of ideas presented by Ms. le Fort is so fascinating, I found myself both thrilled to be a woman and challenged to accept all that is inherent in being female more seriously in the future only regretting I had not encountered this book much sooner in my life.
  
  The author begins with creation and a correct understanding of the story.

  ‘...it is entirely false to say that Eve fell because she was the weaker. The Bible story clearly shows that she was the stronger and had the ascendancy over man. Man, regarded in his cosmic aspect, stands in the foreground of strength, while woman dwells in the deeper reaches. Whenever woman has been suppressed, it was never because she was weak, but because she was recognized and feared as having power, and with reason; for at the moment when the stronger power no longer desires surrender but seeks self-glorification, a catastrophe is bound to ensue.’ p.13

  In the chapter entitled “Woman in Time” she covers the three primary vocations of women—single virginity, marriage and motherhood—and the importance of sanctity to a woman’s ability to fulfill whatever mission she is called to by God.

  ‘“The holier a woman is, the more she is a woman.” This also is Dante’s meaning in that wondrous passage of his great poem when he looks upon Beatrice while her eyes remain steadfastly fixed upon God. Here Dante does not see the divine in woman, but he sees God because her glance is upon God.’ p.51

  “Timeless Woman” is the chapter which concludes the book. These are my favorite selections from it:

  ‘It is only a motherless time that cries out for a mother, and a deeply unmotherly age that can point to the mother as a demand of the time, for it is precisely the mother who is timeless, the same in all epochs and among all peoples.’ p.67
  
  ‘The increased possibility of preserving the life of the child is paralleled by the equally increased possibility of preventing or even removing the child.’ p.71
  
  ‘The recognition of the fact that there is no right on the part of the woman to a child, but only a right of the child to a mother, corresponds to the recognition of another fact that is pertinent to the present, namely, that there is in the world no woman’s right, so called to a profession or vocation, but the world has a child’s right to the woman… There is nothing that denotes the condition of the world today more profoundly and tragically than the complete absence of the maternal attitude of mind.’ p.88

  I don’t expect this to be a very popular review with some, but that’s okay. I stand with all the voiceless and motherless ones. How many times have I said to my own daughters that I would be the mother to the world if I could...?
  
  ‘God created mankind in his image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them…’ (Genesis 1:27-28)
• 
  Heidi

  This is an incredible meditation on the meaning of womanhood that I found both empowering and liberating as a woman.
  
  Gertrud von le Fort's short but meaty treatise is both a product of its time and a timeless meditation that holds a number of thoughts worth considering, no matter where you stand spiritually.
  
  Von le Fort wrote The Eternal Woman in the 1930s as a response to early feminism and the co-opting of motherhood as a political tool by Bolshevist and Nazi states. However, her thoughts still ring true in our age where the concept of gender identity has led many to wonder whether being a woman means anything more than carrying two X chromosomes or wearing dresses. Much of the language can be problematic for a 21st-century reader, but with a bit of patience and a willingness to lean into the discomfort, there are a lot of valuable insights to be gained.
  
  The Eternal Woman weaves together Scripture and imagery from the world of literature, art, and culture to paint a beautiful portrait of Woman and her role as a bearer of the image of God, working through the implications both in religious symbolism and in the role of women in society. She uses concepts of femininity that are often used to subjugate women-- surrender, hiddenness, and silence-- and subverts them, reclaiming them as tools of feminine power bestowed by God as a reflection of His nature and as a means for women to accomplish great work in the temporal realm.
  
  There are some surprisingly progressive ideas in this book, despite the apparent opposition to feminism. I found particularly intriguing her thoughts on the importance of women in all stages of life-- unmarried, childless, and as mothers-- and how women in all these stages exemplify a key characteristic of the feminine. This was a breath of fresh air for someone who grew up in a Protestant denomination where motherhood is the end-all for women and singlehood is almost a type of disease.
  
  A very worthwhile read!
• 
  mahtiel

  To be perfectly frank, I often back out of reading books that deal with the topic of womanhood. It is not because I find these issues irrelevant, quite the contrary. It's rather due to the disillusion with feminism that I experienced at the university (it was presented to me as an empty ideology and a mere campaign for power... no thanks) and the fact that even though I tried, I haven't managed to read a single contemporary text I could agree with a 100%, therefore I was forced to conclude that every woman somehow has to make up her own brand of thinking about femininity, which kind of kills the whole purpose of a movement.
  
  Then, by chance, I came across this humble title by Gertrud von le Fort and I realized that the idea of womanhood doesn't speak to me as much as a political issue, but when perceived as an eternal symbol, I find it fully comprehendible and relatable.
  
  Symbols are signs or images through which ultimate metaphysical realities and modes of being are apprehended, not in an abstract manner but by way of a likeness. Symbols are therefore the language of an invisible reality becoming articulate in the realm of the visible. This concept of the symbol springs from the conviction that in all beings and things there is an intelligent order that, through these very beings and things, reveals itself as a divine order by means of the language of its symbols.
  
  The individual carrier, therefore, has an obligation toward his symbols, which remain above and beyond him, inviolate and inviolable, even when he no longer recognizes their meaning, or when he has gone so far as to reject or deny them.
  
  Von le Fort then, calling philosophy, theology and art to her aid, proceeds to explain the threefold symbolism of womanhood: the virgin (virgo), the bride/partner (sponsa) and the mother (mater). Each of these notions is problematic for the current times and it is beyond this small review to capture the beauty of the conclusions given in this richly dense philosophical essay. Let me just say that it was a relief for me to be introduced into the language of the symbol, which doesn't impose a concrete lifestyle on anyone, but (if we are willing) can help us to perceive how theses ideas are uniquely realized in our lives. Now by ''us'' I also mean men, because Gertrud von le Fort thinks of femininity and masculinity not just in mutual complementarity, but in the dynamic balance of love, which is always a sacred mystery for her (mysterium caritatis).
  
  All in all, I find this book to be a wonderfully though-provoking collection of reflections of a dedicated observer of culture, history, religion and art, an author who tries to give honest answer, but still notbeing too proud to think that she exhausted the question.
• 
  Becca Arend

  Very rarely have I found a work on femininity that is as substantive and as significant as this one. 21st century women, prepare to have your preconceived notions about the meaning of femininity challenged to the core. Reading this was an absolute breath of fresh air. It’s very philosophical for the average reader, but completely worth the challenge. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time and am already preparing to read it again.
• 
  Stephanie

  I listened to the audiobook available through my parish subscription to Formed. Auditory learning is not my preferred style, but I gleaned enough to know this slim volume will be worth purchasing. There is much to meditate on.
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  Daniel Schwindt

  Wish I'd discovered this book years ago. A very lucid examination of the meaning of femininity within the context of the Catholic tradition. Moving and deep, and does much to vindicate femininity from the stereotypical "weaker sex" type of attitude that is prevalent in Christian circles, which seems to mostly just pay lip service to womanhood. Can be difficult at times if you don't have a philosophy background. Would recommend, as an easier but also very helpful read: The Privilege of Being a Woman by Alice von Hildebrand.
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  Gabrielle

  This is a beautifully and insightful meditation on woman and women in the Church. I struggled with parts of it, feeling like they were out of date or (with all due respect) just wrong and I'm sure the fact that it was written in the 1930s is most of the problem. Despite the fact that I wasn't sold on everything von le Fort wrote, I thought it was beautiful. This book is giving me a lot to chew on.
• 
  Adrienne

  This is definitely one of the more challenging books on Catholic feminism - but when read slowly and attentively, it is amazing! Von Le Fort truly laid the ground-work for so many other Catholic women writers.
• 
  M.

  Like Edith Stein, Gertrude von le Fort was living a time where womanhood was being put in question and shaken by an incorrectly understood notion of the rights of women, and where Nazis basically reduced them to chances to multiply the Aryan race. If any of this sounds familiar, then nothing much has changed.
  
  Unlike Edith Stein, her reflections feel less concrete. She's valuing women beyond physical fertility, but does not go far enough. When she claims that femininity is self-givenness, I ask myself, if this is not a definition of personhood, since Christ, as a full man, gave Himself too.
  
  Similarly, her thesis that virginity was honored cross culturally has some weight, but Romans were decidedly more ambivalent about it since they beleived that not having sex since age 12-13 was unhealthy and possibly causing "humors". The monastic development of the Church protected women and girls from such abuses, in a time where teenage years weren't even thought of. In addition, her outlook towards feminism seems much more less nuanced, which is strange coming from a society where protestantism hindered the educational possibilities of women so much.
• 
  Christin Weber

  This book is a classic that I first read in the early 1960s. But so much has evolved in women's spirituality since that her stunning insights and rather radical ideas of the time -- and planted then as seeds -- have either blossomed or died. If I taught a college course I'd probably assign this book as part of historical development of an ideology, but after the first chapter of this re-read with some nostalgia, I closed it and replaced it on the shelf.
• 
  Molly Lackey

  One of the best works on female identity and biblical womanhood I have ever read. Gertrud von le Fort approaches the topic of womanhood from a distinctly feminine perspective—namely, one of motherly patience and nurturing, which is a breath of fresh air in a topic that is so often overrun by bitterness and polemics from all involved. Thought-provoking and challenging (in a good way!), even for those of us who are not Roman Catholic. :)
• 
  reagan

  🎧
  So interesting!
  Definitely feel that I need to buy the physical copy and use highlighters and margin notes liberally... Very heafty ideas and symbolism which I feel I need to study, not just listen to.
• 
  Mario

  Un texte très profond, dense, avec une réflexion à la fois philosophique et théologique.
• 
  Jaz

  There are things which I don't agree with, but what an insightful read!
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  Cleo

  Good. Dont agree with all.
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  Cris

  Excellent. This should be required reading for every woman at the onset of menarche. This old gem says nothing that wasn't already felt by the people and later explained by St. Paul, St. Augustine, Duns Scotus and others, but it economically summarized things in an age when that understanding of woman's place in the economy of salvation was beginning to come under attack. Taking apart different images of woman in the bible and tradition, in particular Mary, le Fort explains the role of woman in the Church in salvation and in society, articulating the power of the 'hidden feminine' and receptivity (principally of woman) as the highest human power. A philosopher and historian, (and Nobel prize winner) von le Fort was part of that Hochland group of modern Catholic philosophers that sought to explain the Christian tradition from human experience without changing the theology, which infuriated other feminists. The reader is warned that if he nods to every truthful point this woman makes in this book, he or she will get whiplash as you might do that three times in each sentence. The importance of the veil as a symbol, the nullification of humanity in contraception, the antichrist as a beast (as opposed to a man), Mary as the most important weapon of conversion to whom evangelizers must entrust their efforts: it is all here, the meaning of woman. Don't get whiplash.
• 
  Miss Clark

  2 stars for personal benefit, but 3 for quality of writing and clarity of thought.
  
  

  ...so woman as here considered demonstrates the final value of her every gift, her every achievement, entirely independent of success or recognition. She expresses the most complete reality also of the unknown, the seemingly ineffectual, the hidden, as it is in God. Therewith she secures, as do the lone graves of a lost war, the final import of all history. Above and beyond the visible world, she answers for the invisible.

  
  
  
  I disagreed strongly with some of the conclusions drawn. Ruth Schaumann quotes "True women are quiet and desire quiet .... show me the woman who writes about that which concerns her intimately .... If it did concern her she would be silent."
  
  Seriously? There are several passages like this throughout the book. Woman is meant to be a helper, never the primary doer. A muse and inspiration, never the creator or maker. The silent support. Never ever the one to make things happen, but a passive observer. And while I understand that this is primarily a discussion of the feminine rather than every woman, the way that the authoress describes these things reads as all women. All women must be this way, do things in this manner or they are not truly feminine.
• 
  April

  She was all over the plaace, and her stream of thought was not coherent. She did however make some good points, spread randomly throughout the book.
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  Caitlin Radonich

  This book was fascinating and thought provoking.
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  Paulina Ávila

  Loved it! Profoundly incredible