Kön och bön

Abstract

Sometimes it is claimed that women are more contemplative, more prone to receive the gift of Christian contemplative prayer, than men are. In the Carmelite tradition this claim is made with reference to St. Teresa of Avila. This article deals with the question how we can explain why women are more contemplative than men, if they are. Four different explanations are discussed. 1.) That women «by nature» are more contemplative than men. 2.) That women more naturally can use the metaphors related to erotic love and/or childbirth that are used when contemplative Christian prayer is described and, as a consequence, more easily can experience and describe their religious life in those terms. 3.) That women’s work often includes tasks that can be undertaken during prayer and that women, therefore, can get more practice in prayer than men. 4.) That women by their subordinate position in society more easily experience their vulnerability and, therefore, are more open to God’s help and grace. By using a pragmatic criterion stating that our philosophical thinking should not only be in accordance with reality and coherent but should also lead to the inclusive well-being of both men and women in our present-day society the conclusion that the second explanation is the most promising candidate is drawn. The second explanation might imply that women and men experience themselves and each other as subjects with dignity, worthy of respect, whose rights might not be put into question by sexual or some other kind of abuse.