Edith Stein, 1891-1942, also called Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, brilliant German philosopher, Catholic convert, Carmelite nun . . .The Nazis killed her at Auschwitz on August 9, 1942, for being a Jew. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1998 and named Patroness of Europe along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Bridget of Sweden in 1999. Steins Jewish identity played a significant formative role in her life, her pursuit of philosophy, her conversion and in aspects of her Religious life. She explains, I would like to give, simply, a straightforward account of my own experience of Jewish life. She does this particularly to counter the anti-Jewish propaganda of the new dictators, and the racial hatred spawned by it. It was important to Edith that the characteristics of her Jewish family show that Jews shared all the common human traits of their non-Jewish neighbors, and were conscientious citizens who loved their families, their country and practiced a religion with high moral and ethical aspirations. In a letter she wrote to Pope Pius XI in the Spring of 1933 in which she begs for the Church to protest Hitlers persecution of the Jews in Germany, she wrote, As a child of the Jewish people who, by the grace of God, for the past eleven years has also been a child of the Catholic Church, I dare to speak to the Father of Christianity about that which oppresses millions of Germans. By defining herself as both a child of the Jewish people and a child of the Catholic Church she simultaneously embraces both a Jewish and Catholic identity, something not ordinarily understood by Catholics. Conversion is more often seen as a renunciation of ones former religious beliefs and practices, and therefore a turning away from that identity and taking on a new identity as a Christian, a Catholic. Edith did not understand her identity as mutually exclusive. This is important to understand if we are to get an appreciation of the influence of her Jewish experience on her formation as a philosopher, a Catholic and a religious person. Please read Steins most impressive work: Das Ewiges und Endliches Sein , Author: Edith Stein
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 13:31:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015