The Life and Thought of St. Edith Stein
How do we judge that a life has been well spent? We look to the intentions of the person, the contribution made to society and, most of all to the fulfillment of God's will in that life. As a child and adult, Edith Stein made love of family, friends and the whole human race a priority in her life. As a German during World War I, she wanted to serve and to heal which she did as a Red Cross nurse. As a woman she wanted to fight for women's rights which she did as a very young suffragette and...
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How do we judge that a life has been well spent? We look to the intentions of the person, the contribution made to society and, most of all to the fulfillment of God's will in that life. As a child and adult, Edith Stein made love of family, friends and the whole human race a priority in her life. As a German during World War I, she wanted to serve and to heal which she did as a Red Cross nurse. As a woman she wanted to fight for women's rights which she did as a very young suffragette and leader of the Catholic Women's Movement in Europe. Her hunger was to learn, to understand truth and to philosophize. Her seminal work as philosopher and theologian wedded phenomenology to scholasticism and brought her wide acclaim as an innovative thinker. As a Catholic, she wanted to be holy, both as a lay person and later as a contemplative nun. As a convert to Catholicism, she wanted to be faithful to her Jewish heritage, to share the fate of the Jews during the Holocaust in imitation of Christ's passion, and to expiate for the human sins which caused the Shoah. And she did all three -- to the point of martyrdom. On August 9, 1942 she was among the many who were gassed that day in a little white cottage at Auschwitz, then buried in a mass grave, later to be exhumed and cremated. By all human reckoning, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, should have been forgotten. But this is far from the case. Beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 1, 1987 and canonized by him on October 11, 1998, she was named one of the co-patrons of Europe in 1999. This book will introduce the reader to the life and thought of this truly extraordinary woman whose legacy has much to offer those of us who are privileged to live in the Third Millennium.
Part 1A Holy Life1.The Jewishness of Edith Stein32.The New Convert: Phenomenology and Thomas Aquinas233.From Carmel to Auschwitz: Spirituality of a Saint41History of Carmel42The Carmelite Vocation45Edith's Life as a Carmelite47Part 2Writings in Christian Philosophy4.Edith Stein's Philosophy of the Woman67A Comparison of Philosophies on Woman: Edith Stein and the Church67Edith Stein's Contribution to the Education of Women75Edith Stein's Message to the Young Woman795.Edith Stein's Philosophy of the Person87The Early Phase--Phenomenology87The Later Phase--Christian Philosophy90Is the Embryo a Person?986.The Person in Society103I.The Free and Conscious Person103II.The Role of Empathy104III.The Individual and the Community106IV.An Investigation on the State107V.Human Rights, Natural Law, and Justice111VI.Conclusion117Part 3Ecumenism and Edith Stein7.A Beatification and Its Problems1218.St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein139Story of a Miracle139We Are Present at the Canonization of Edith Stein142The Continuing Controversy147The Nature of St. Edith Stein's Sainthood152The Meaning of St. Edith Stein for the Third Millennium154Bibliography of Works Cited159
