This image is the cover for the book The Concept of Woman

The Concept of Woman

A comprehensive account of the concept of woman in Western thought, from ancient Greece, through the Middle Ages, to today


In her sweeping, three-volume study, Sister Prudence Allen examined how women and men have been defined in relation to one another scientifically, philosophically, and theologically. Now synthesized for students, The Concept of Woman is the ideal textbook for classes on gender in Catholic thought. 

Allen surveys Greek philosophers, medieval saints, and modern thinkers to trace the development of integral gender complementarity. This doctrine—a living idea according to the criteria of John Henry Newman—affirms the equal dignity of men and women and the synergetic relationship between them. Allen pays special attention to John Paul II’s contributions to this holistic idea of gender. Readers will gain valuable context for current debates over womanhood and come to a greater appreciation of human personhood.

Prudence Allen, Mary Cora Uryase, John C. Cavadini

Sister Prudence Allen, RSM, is a retired professor of philosophy at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver, Colorado, and professor emerita at Concordia University, Montreal. She is the author of The Concept of Woman, published in three volumes: The Aristotelian Revolution, 750 B.C.–A.D. 1250; The Early Humanist Reformation, 1250–1500; The Search for Communion of Persons, 1500–2015.   

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.