The Concept of Woman, Volume 3

Helen M. Alvaré
—George Mason University
"This book is a gift to the twenty-first century, given how much confusion remains over the meaning and value of being a woman! Nowhere else can a reader find a more thorough or intellectually rigorous examination of the concept of woman, in a text seamlessly integrating philosophy, theology, and culture."

Elizabeth R. Schiltz
—University of St. Thomas School of Law
"A masterful culmination of Sister Prudence Allen's groundbreaking study of the concept of woman in the history of Western philosophy. This final volume is a rich, multilayered work that explores the increasingly contentious issues of sex and gender from a wide range of illuminating perspectives. Allen continues to reward readers with the fruits of her painstaking research and insightful analysis, painting a sweeping, vivid picture of the currents and crosscurrents of arguments made by the most important (yet often unheralded) philosophers writing after 1500."

Michele M. Schumacher, STD
—University of Fribourg
"With this final piece of her magnificent three-volume work, Sr. Prudence Allen has bequeathed a masterpiece of fine historical research and deft philosophical reasoning which is both timely and timeless. Destined to be a classic in philosophical anthropology, sexual ethics, and gender studies, The Concept of Woman III is essential reading for those who wish to make their way through the crazed maze of gender politics today with the help of a solid philosophical articulation of the differences and complementarity of the sexes. Future generations will join me in praising this monumental work."

Fr. Francis Martin, SSD
—Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC
"An excellent, dispassionate study of how human beings have thought about women over the centuries. Sister Prudence Allen is to be congratulated for making a serious contribution to our reflections on the concept of woman."