Sor Juana Day I

Sor Juana's introduction to her response letter sets the tone as somewhat sarcastic, as she practically insults "Filotea" by praising her. She walks a fine line between humility and superiority, or rather uses humility to establish superiority. For example, she explains that she initially was hesitant to respond, not for the same reason that Albertus Magnus could not respond to Thomas Aquinas, who could think of no response worthy of his master out of modesty, but "rather because, in truth, I am unable to say anything worthy of you." If she can say nothing worthy out of modesty, which would put Filotea above her, it means she can say nothing because the opposite is true: Filotea's charge is beneath her. However, she later justifies herself by explaining that, as the Lady has already granted her so much favor in both publishing her work and writing this letter to her, she can expect nothing less of Filotea than to excuse any folly she may commit in writing this response. Basically, she has set it up so that the letter intended to shut her up excuses her from any wrong in continuing to speak.

Filotea's main charge against Sor Juana is that she has applied her wit not to studying God, but rather to the study of Earthly things. In response to this, Sor Juana argues that in studying these Earthly things, she does not neglect the study of God, but rather supports it by giving it a greater context. For example, "Without the science of Architecture, how understand the mighty Temple of Solomon - where God Himself was the Draftsman who set forth His arrangement and plan." She then lists many more examples of how we need a deep understanding of Earthly arts and sciences to truly understand, to the best of our limited ability, the magnificence and the glory of God. She says of the Bible, "In sum, we see how this Book contains all books, and this Science includes all sciences..." (55)

On page 59 she declares, "my lack of profit in it is the fault of my ineptitude and the weakness of my mind, not the fault of variety." This is in relation to her studying a wide array of topics instead of merely focusing on the Bible itself. However, I believe she is saying it to maintain modesty rather than to actually claim that she has not profited from her studies. She is effectually playing dumb to demonstrate how intelligent she is, without being so bold as to actually say so.