Edith Stein’s life of philosophy and holiness.
The Philosopher Saint
St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
‘I am a Prussian citizen and a Jewess’.
Edith Stein never disowned her origins, but she lived during a period of European upheaval, and she was gassed by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1942. Her earlier conversion to Catholicism meant that Jews and Christians began an unseemly dispute over ‘ownership of her death’; was she killed for being Jewish, or martyred as a Catholic? Time has been an interfaith healer, but her saintliness (she was canonized in 1998) and death are too often intertwined so that the rest of her interesting and fruitful life, including the story of her conversion is overshadowed.
Philosophy is the key to that life, and to her conversion. Edith Stein’s family which was led by her mother after her father’s early death (Mrs Stein was reportedly one of Breslau’s most respected merchants) was focussed on intellectual and professional life for the girls, just as much as the boys. Edith, the youngest of eleven children, went to the University of Breslau to study German and history but was intrigued by the developing science of psychology. On hearing of the groundbreaking philosophy of Edmund Husserl, which had built on Brentano’s early psychological work, she decided to apply to the University of Göttingen to join him, eventually becoming his assistant. Of course, this was unusual for a woman, but Edith Stein was an unusual young woman, full of confidence in her intellectual abilities. (One of her fellow female students remarked in amazement that she joined in and interrupted all the male professional discussions – ‘and on such difficult subjects too’). Phenomenology, Husserl’s method of philosophy was certainly technical but had the appeal to Edith of focussing on what one truly perceives in the world.
‘My longing for truth was a single prayer’.
This intense focus on truth and authenticity at the heart of her philosophical work would be the trigger for her conversion into the Christian faith too. Edith had lost her faith as a young teenager but remained observant for her mother’s sake, who was a pious Jew. Doubts about her atheistic position crept in when she met her philosophical mentor Adolf Reinach at Göttingen and his wife Anna, both Christian protestants converted from Judaism. The quality of their relationship impressed her; they were deeply affectionate and intellectually respectful – Reinach was one of the very few supporters of women academics. Edith was a keen observer of the details of human life and relationships (her autobiography is gripping in this respect). In 1917 Reinach was killed in the First World War and Edith was grief stricken but equally powerfully moved by Anna Reinach’s demeanour and belief that there was an afterlife and that she and her husband would be reunited. Edith would have abhorred any sentimentality on this score- instead, she saw Anna’s faith shine through to deliver calmness in the face of intense grief. Edith’s developing interest in Christianity received the final push when she read Teresa of Avila’s autobiography – this is the truth, she claimed and embraced her new faith from that moment.
There are similarities between Edith Stein and Teresa – and of course it is no accident that Edith Stein saw her future as part of Teresa of Avila’s order of discalced Carmelites: their Jewish backgrounds, the confident intellectual presence in a male dominated world, but above all the personal relationship with Jesus marked both women’s lives. Edith was struck on one occasion by observing a Catholic woman who was going about her daily shopping and then diverted into her local church, put down her basket, kneel and began to pray or ‘have a personal conversation with God’ as Edith Stein described it.
Baptized in January 1922, Edith Stein did not enter her Carmelite order until 1934. She had a teaching position at an educational institute and was in demand as a public teacher on women’s education, but she was forced out of her job because she was a Jew in 1933. Her religious sisters saw that her gifts lay in the high-level communication of concepts and ideas, so she was allowed and encouraged to go on writing philosophy in her religious life, although Edith began to blend in Thomistic theology and mysticism inspired by St John of the Cross. One of Edith’s great philosophical contributions was to insert the idea of ‘empathy’, the subject of her doctoral thesis under Husserl, into the developing theories of phenomenology. Her analysis is not focussed on the everyday use of that word, but rather constructs a full-blown theory of the empathy as the way in which embodied ‘others’ are given to us in experience; it is also a necessary mode for knowing ourselves. This was a vital underpinning to her later religious life.
‘We see in holy men a tenderness and a truly maternal solicitude for the souls entrusted to them while in holy women there is manly boldness, proficiency, and determination’.[1]
Edith lived her early life surrounded by a huge family and, for someone who had such a keen theoretical mind, was remarkably engaged with children and caring for others (although she was fiercely practical and loathed ‘emotional displays’). Although she acknowledged distinct gender qualities – women were always going to be occupied with domestic life and had natural tendences to want to grasp reality with the heart as well as with the intellect – this should not dictate the menu of opportunities available to either sex. (The example of her mother as a businesswoman was clearly at work here, and indeed of her many female friends and relatives – Anna Reinach was a physicist, for example). In her undergraduate days, she was involved in the suffragette movement and was a radical feminist; it’s not that her faith changed that. Rather, she developed a more nuanced way of thinking about the roles of women and men in the world which required both sexes to aim for self-knowledge and, after conversion, a knowledge and acceptance of what God required us to do in His service.
Her years in her order were marked by prayer and contemplation and an acceptance of shortcomings; young novices were astonished at this mature and educated woman’s calmness in the face of acerbic criticisms by another nun at her poor needlework! But Edith Stein had come to know her mission and service. Like her mentor Reinach, she excelled in communication of complicated ideas to a wider audience, a precious gift for a Christian philosopher.
‘Come, we are going for our people’.
She knew that her death was all but inevitable as the Nazis advanced; after all, she had made no secret of her origins. Her order tried to protect her by sending her to a Dutch convent with her sister Rosa, who was now also converted and working as an extern in the order. In the end, both were arrested and travelled by train through Europe to Auschwitz in the company of many others; young mothers with children amongst them. As she done in her Red Cross nursing days in the First World War, Edith began to calmly focus on others and their needs, particularly the young children whose mothers were panic stricken and unable to take care of them.
In Edmund Husserl’s remembrance for Adolf Reinach, he claimed that ‘the enemy bullet struck one who was composed, fully in agreement with himself and God’. Edith Stein, Reinach’s great friend, met her death in the same way. It had taken an intense philosophical journey to get her to that position, but her positivity and joyous reception of the grace and love of God, means that she is a truly inspirational saint. Efforts are underway to have her named as a Doctor of the Church – with the suggestion that she be ‘the Doctor of Resilient Hope’. A fitting title for this modern philosophical saint.
By Elizabeth Drummond Young
Elizabeth is a Teaching Fellow at the Centre for Open Learning University of Edinburgh, and in addition, runs a philosophy course for the International Foundation Programme. Her many other short courses include; applied ethics, love and friendship, women in philosophy and critical thinking. Research interests include history of philosophy and its connection with the philosophy of religion and of course Donald Mackinnon.
References and Resources:
- (this is the source of the photograph of Edith Stein as a student; the website claims the picture is in the public domain).
https://www.emir-stein.org/ai_videos/edith-stein-a-saint-for-our-times/ (by Fr Justin Gable OP)
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/cdulture/38868/edith-stein-and-the-power-of-empathy
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stein/
http://www.edithsteincircle.com/biography/chronology-of-writings.html
April has one of Scotland’s most important feast days, that of St Magnus. We also celebrate St Donan and the great St Maelrubha. Go to the usual place to find out more: www.maryswell.net/aprilsaints
St. Edith Stein is a favorite of mine. I'd heard that she may be considered to be named a Doctor of the Church, but the title "Doctor of Resilient Hope" is new to me. I love it! Thanks for writing this.