E Dio creò la donna – la contemplazione della bellezza femminile nella prospettiva dell’antropologia cristiana

Abstract

The text of the article is inspired by the question: how to interpret the beauty of femininity revealed in the work of creation in order to understand it in all its richness? The thought of John Paul II helps us in this, taken from his theology of the body, which critically assesses contemporary reductionist trends with a materialistic tint. At the same time, based on the above-mentioned author, we expand our reflection based on other Christian authors with an analogous inspiration. Against the utilitarian proposal, there is an argument about the paradisiacal delight of female beauty experienced by the first man. Only starting from this perspective can one speak of a man’s first vocation: to have and hold a woman as a gift. This logic of gift leads us to discover that the erotic is not necessarily associated with lust, or worse, with subsequent downfall. It remains a gift given to man if the erotic is inscribed in what is ethical. Hence the conclusion that the erotic sphere is capable of directing our experience positively, towards the experience of being moved by the other. We are not only at the level of satisfying natural needs. In this way, we discover a completely different dimension of beauty. Beauty revealed by the erotic thrill accompanying the contemplation of femininity. Here we come to the conclusion that it has the power to transcend our purely human, often reduced, understanding of the forces dormant in human nature. It even leads to a statement about the supernatural power of eros, towards fullness, towards what is ultimate. Only then will we be able to understand what role the Creator assigned to the experience of Adam’s admiration for the beauty revealed in Eve’s femininity. The communion of a man and a woman born in beauty directs us to the divine source – the communion of Persons in the Holy Trinity. In a sense, the beauty revealed in a woman, the more carnal it is, the more it reveals to us the most profoundly spiritual and infinite spheres. The final answer to the question about the beauty of femininity and its role in meeting a man is the figure of the one we call All Beautiful – Mary.