Edyta Stein – Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross – was fascinated by the “mystery of man”. Discovering this mystery led her to experience the “mystery of God”. She had a beautiful and difficult road leading through life and scientific transgressions, the path from thanatology to transthanatology, from the existence of a contingent existence to the existence of eternal Being. According to Edith Stein, the existence of man is unique. Everyone has to discover the fullness of his existence. Here comes Stein’s transition from psychological and philosophical considerations (phenomenon-fact) to theological considerations (foundation). By learning about God, man recognizes himself and discovers the ultimate truth of his existence. Whoever does not reach himself will not find God and enter eternal life. Or better: whoever does not find God will not find himself (no matter how much focus he will give on finding himself) and the source of eternal life that awaits him in his own interior.
In modern times as never before, marriage and family are in danger. The contemporary problems were already present in many aspects in the times of Edith Stein. The author of the article studies the life and the works of the Saint with regard to marriage and family. For Edith Stein, marriage is an inseparable union of a man and woman, which, thanks to the sacramental grace, is filled with special strength to maintain reciprocal love and fidelity and also to cooperate with God in giving life and educating children. In Edith Stein’s opinion, both the husband and the wife in the family have rights and duties connected with being God’s image, bearing and bringing up children and transforming the world by their work. Edith, however, noted the difference between sexes and the way in which the tasks were realised according to the nature and the different callings. The Saint saw the necessity of complementarity of sexes and generations in a harmonious family. Such a vision of marriage and family is still applicable in our times.
Edith Stein sees the highest expression of the feminine genius in the Blessed Virgin Mary. This article presents (1) Edith Stein’s insights into what it means to walk with Mary and how her imitation provides women a secure path to nurturing a healthy emotional life necessary for fruitful spiritual motherhood and spiritual companionship, and (2) Edith Stein’s life which offers a concrete and relatively recent example of how the imitation of Mary helps women unlock their feminine genius.
The author of the article studies the spirituality of Edith Stein. He presents Edith Stein’s contribution to the methodology of spiritual theology, her anthropological and theological vision, her evolution of the religious experience, the life of prayer and call to mysticism. Edith Stein carried out research which today would be regarded as being interdisciplinary. Her reflections have a huge influence on the methodology of the theology of spirituality. The spirituality of the Cross which Stein writes about in compliance with the classic masters, nowadays may be an adjustment to the incarnational spirituality, in her overly optimistic view on the usage of creatures and taking for granted the spiritual value of suffering.
The origins of the term ‘empathy’ go back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the foundation of analyses of the phenomenon were philosophical (phenomenological) deliberations on the issue of getting to know mental states of other people. The first psychologist to draw on achievements of phenomenologists and to use the term Die Einfühlung was Theodor Lipps (Lipps 1897). In the Anglo-Saxon literature the term was translated as ‘empathy’, sharing another person’s emotions. In our times, in pedagogy and psychotherapy, significant findings on empathy were made by Carl Rogers (1975), a personality psychologist. The article presents fragments of selected Edith Stein’s letters and statements that prove her interest in the issue of empathy both in her academic as well as personal life.
The origins of the term ‘empathy’ go back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the foundation of analyses of the phenomenon were philosophical (phenomenological) deliberations on the issue of getting to know mental states of other people. The first psychologist to draw on achievements of phenomenologists and to use the term Die Einfühlung was Theodor Lipps (Lipps 1897). In the Anglo-Saxon literature the term was translated as ‘empathy’, sharing another person’s emotions. In our times, in pedagogy and psychotherapy, significant findings on empathy were made by Carl Rogers (1975), a personality psychologist. The article presents fragments of selected Edith Stein’s letters and statements that prove her interest in the issue of empathy both in her academic as well as personal life.
Artykuł odsłania tajemnicę Eucharystii, jaką zawierają pisma Edyty Stein. Dzieła świętej stanowiły bogaty materiał badawczy, ponieważ charakteryzują się głębią teologicznych, filozoficznych i psychologicznych rozważań. Artykuł wskazuje na źródła, na których Edyta Stein opierała się przy opracowywaniu zagadnienia Eucharystii. Następnie ukazuje, jak w swoich pismach ujmowała istotę mszy świętej. Z przeprowadzonej analizy wyłania się szczególnie ofiarniczy charakter sakramentu ołtarza. W ostatniej części artykuł przedstawia głębokie i jasno sformułowane myśli świętej dotyczące skutków Eucharystii, będące wynikiem jej osobistego doświadczenia.
EN
The article looks at the way Edith Stein presents the mystery of the Eucharist in her works. Because ofthe deepness of hertheological, philosophical, and psychological thought, her writings proved to be a rich trove of material for research. The paper shows the original sources that Edith Stein used while working to understand the Eucharist.Nextit presentsthe way thatthe Saint understood the essence ofthe Mass. From the analysis emerges a particularily sacrificial character ofthe Sacrament ofthe Altar. In the last part, the article shows Edith Stein’s deep and clearly stated views on the effects of the Eucharist, that are based on her own personal experience.
Autor stara się porównać życie i twórczość Edyty Stein i Karola Wojtyły, oraz ukazać jej postać w nauczaniu Jana Pawła II. Najpierw chodzi o aspekt biograficzny. Następnie zostaje porównane podejście do badań filozoficznych. Wreszcie artykuł ukazuje nauczanie papieża na temat Edyty Stein jako filozofa, męczennicy, mistyczki i wzoru dla kobiet. Następuje to przy okazji jej beatyfikacji, kanonizacji i ogłoszenia jej patronką Europy.
EN
The author compares the life and the works of Edith Stein and Karol Wojtyła, and shows her in the teaching of John Paul II. The first part deals with biographical aspects. After this philosophical researches are compared. Finally the article presents the pope’s teachings about Edith Stein as a philosopher, martyr, mystic and good example for women. This teaching took place on the occasion of beatification, canonization and the declaration of Edith Stein as patron of Europe.
Edith Stein is widely recognised as a saint, a martyr, a victim of the Holocaust and a female philosopher – but can she be a Doctor of the Church? So far, thirty-seven figures, including four women, carry the title due to their so-called ‘eminent doctrines’, eminentes doctrinae. For centuries, a procedural difficulty existed in awarding the titles to martyrs, however, in the second decade of the 21st century, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints reached a conclusion that martyrdom is not, in principle, an obstacle in awarding the title. A question, therefore, can be posed: does the legacy of someone among the Christian martyrs fulfill the criteria of the Church’s Doctorate? The aim of this article is to investigate the criteria for conferral of the title of the Doctor of the Church, prime among which is a criterion called eminens doctrina, and apply them to one example, that of Edith Stein. In doing so, I consider the question purely historically and philosophically, starting out with definitions of the Father of the Church and the Doctor of the Church in part one (published in June 2023, no 1, p. 131–149). In the second part of the article (available below), I ask what aspects of the female martyr’s theology, philosophy and spirituality fulfill the criteria of an eminent doctrine, as formulated in the Church’s documents, and which are insufficient or lacking. In order to highlight the nature of a particular criterion, I contrast Stein’s case with other recently debated cases, such as those of Irenaeus of Lyons and John Paul II.
Edith Stein is widely recognised as a saint, a martyr, a victim of the Holocaust and a female philosopher – but can she be a Doctor of the Church? So far, thirty-seven figures, including four women, carry the title due to their so-called ‘eminent doctrines’, eminentes doctrinae. For centuries, a procedural difficulty existed in awarding the titles to martyrs, however, in the second decade of the 21st century, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints reached a conclusion that martyrdom is not, in principle, an obstacle in awarding the title. A question, therefore, can be posed: does the legacy of someone among the Christian martyrs fulfill the criteria of the Church’s Doctorate? The aim of this article is to investigate the criteria for conferral of the title of the Doctor of the Church, prime among which is a criterion called eminens doctrina, and apply them to one example, that of Edith Stein. In doing so, I consider the question purely historically and philosophically, starting out with definitions of the Father of the Church and the Doctor of the Church in part one (available below). In the second part of the article (available in 2024), I ask what aspects of the female martyr’s theology, philosophy and spirituality fulfill the criteria of an eminent doctrine, as formulated in the Church’s documents, and which are insufficient or lacking. In order to highlight the nature of a particular criterion, I contrast Stein’s case with other recently debated cases, such as those of Irenaeus of Lyons and John Paul II.
The article presents the most important publications of Edith Stein and aims to show the specificity of her scientific work, which covered three periods: phenomenological, metaphysical and theological. It focuses on discussing such works as: „On the issue of empathy”, „Finite Being and Eternal Being” and „Knowledge of the Cross”. Despite knowing and reaching out to the thoughts of great philosophers such as St. Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Husserl, on the originality of the works of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross is mainly evidenced by her way of understanding the relationship between man and God. They were highlighted by Edith Stein while raising important philosophical and theological issues in the form of truth, Christian revelation and the theology of the Cross.
The purpose of the article was to remind Edith Stein and her activity on the field of the education and empowerment of women. As a young girl and student, she recognized herself as a suffragette, and her attitude and actions – pedagogical, social and political – fit her into the first wave of feminism. On the other hand, her further educational, scientific and journalistic activities let recognize Stein as a precursor of later academic feminism.
PL
Celem artykułu jest przypomnienie postaci Edith Stein i jej działalności na polu edukacji i uzyskaniu większych praw przez kobiety, co miało wzmocnić ich pozycję. Jako młoda dziewczyna i studentka uważała się za sufrażystkę, a jej postawa i działania – pedagogiczne, społeczne i polityczne – wpasowały ją w pierwszą falę feminizmu. Z drugiej strony, jej dalsze działania edukacyjne, naukowe i dziennikarskie pozwalają uznać Stein za prekursora późniejszego feminizmu akademickiego.
Autorka podejmuje próbę wykazania ważności ofiary, którą złożyła z siebie Edith Stein. Analizuje ten czyn za pomocą myśli ks. Józefa Tischnera i Emmanuela Levinasa; z punktu widzenia fenomenologii. Elementem spajającym jest biografia Edith Stein i łączące się z jej życiem liczne analogie z Pisma Świętego. Głównym punktem prezentowanego artykułu jest założenie, iż ofiara Edith Stein była wiodącą ideą jej życia.
EN
The author attempts to demonstrate the validity of the sacrifice that Edith Stein made of herself, and analyzes the deed by thoughts of Józef Tischner and Emmanuel Levinas, f rom the point of view of phenomenology. The connecting element is the biography of Edith Stein and many analogies from Bible. The main point of the present article is the assumption that the victim Edith Stein was the most important idea of her life.
Niniejszy artykuł stanowi wprowadzenie w myśl pedagogiczną Edyty Stein (1891–1942), której intencją było ukazanie związków między nauką o wychowaniu a antropologią. Dlatego też, dążąc do odnalezienia podstaw antropologii adekwatnej, scharakteryzowane zostaną różne antropologie, wynikające z nich ujęcia człowieka, które oddziałują na współczesną pedagogikę, a także oryginalna koncepcja wychowania w ujęciu Edyty Stein.
EN
This article is an introduction to the pedagogical thought of Edith Stein (1891–1942), whose intention was to show how education sciences are related to anthropology. Seeking to identify the foundations for adequate anthropology, the text discusses different anthropologies and approaches to a person that have influenced contemporary pedagogy, as well as the original concept of education according to Edith Stein.
Artykuł stanowi próbę analizy przejawów empatii w twórczości naukowej i życiu Edyty Stein oraz zwraca uwagę na psychologiczną rolę empatii w rozwoju osobowości. Warto podkreślić znaczenie zarówno samej postaci tej wybitnej uczennicy Husserla jak i wymowę ekumeniczną jej twórczości. Pojęcie „empatia” pojawiło się w pierwszych dekadach XX wieku, a podstawą analizy tego zjawiska były filozoficzne (fenomenologiczne) rozważania dotyczące zagadnień poznawania cudzych stanów psychicznych. Jednym z pierwszych psychologów, który czerpał z osiągnięć fenomenologów i użył terminu Die Einfühlung, był Theodor Lipps. W literaturze anglosaskiej pojęcie to tłumaczono właśnie jako „empatia” bądź „odczuwanie razem z…” Współcześnie w psychoterapii ważnych ustaleń w obszarze empatii dokonali: Rogers i Batson a w Polsce Rembowski. W artykule prezentowane są fragmenty wybranych pism, listów i wypowiedzi Edyty Stein będące świadectwem przejawianego przez nią zainteresowania zagadnieniem empatii zarówno w twórczości naukowej, jak i w życiu osobistym. Przedstawiony materiał faktograficzny oraz jego analiza opierają się dodatkowo na Modelu Osobowościowo-Aksjologicznym MOA Mróz, koncentrującym się na wymiarach kompetencji, relacji społecznych i autonomii. Fakty biograficzne i wypowiedzi Stein dotyczące empatii przedstawiono z podkreśleniem związków i zależności występujących między psychobiografią uczonej a wymiarami MOA i odniesieniami do zagadnień ekumenizmu.
EN
The article is an attempt to analyze the manifestations of empathy in Edith Stein's scientific work and life, and it draws attention to the psychological role of empathy in the development of personality. It is worth emphasizing the importance of both the very figure of Husserl's outstanding student and the ecumenical significance of her work. The concept of "empathy" appeared in the first decades of the 20th century and the basis for the analysis of this phenomenon was philosophical (phenomenological) deliberations on the problem of cognition of other people's psychic states. One of the first psychologists to draw on the achievements of phenomenologists and apply the term Die Einfühlung was Theodor Lipps. In the Anglo-Saxon literature this term was translated as "empathy" or "sharing feelings with...". In psychotherapy today, important findings in the field of empathy were made by a Rogers and Batson, in Poland Rembowski. The article presents fragments of Edith Stein's selected writings, letters and statements, which bear testimony to her interest in the problem of empathy both in her scientific work and in her personal life. The factual material presented and its analysis is additionally based on the Personality and Axiological Model by Mróz, which focuses on the dimensions of competence, social relations and autonomy. Stein's biographical facts and statements on empathy are presented with emphasis on the relations and dependencies between the scholar's psychobiography and the dimensions of the MOA and references to the issues of ecumenism.
The article shows the connection and similarities between Edith Stein and Saint Thomas Aquinas. The main issue of the considerations is: if we can talk about an intellectual way from Edith Stein to Saint Thomas Aquinas? The analysis have shown that Edith Stein was a person who was looking for the Truth in all her life. On this journey to the Truth we can distinguish 3 basic stages: phenomenological, christian and mystical. Saint Thomas plays fundamental role in the second stage. This Jewish thinker translated the work of Aquinas and conformed his way of thinking with Husserl’s phenomenology. The meeting with phenomenology and Thomism resulted in her decision of life in Carmelite order and analysis of mysticism.
PL
Artykuł pokazuje powiązania i podobieństwa między myślą Edyty Stein i świętego Tomasza z Akwinu. Główny problem sformułowany został w sposób następujący: czy możemy mówić o intelektualnej drodze Edyty Stein do świętego Tomasza z Akwinu? Analizy pokazały, że Edyta Stein była osobą poszukującą prawdy w całym swoim życiu a na tej drodze ku prawdzie istotne miejsce zajmuje święty Tomasz. Droga ta posiada trzy główne fazy: fenomenologiczną, chrześcijańską i mistyczną. Do spotkania ze świętym Tomaszem dochodzi w czasie „fazy chrześcijańskiej”. Żydowską myślicielka tłumaczyła dzieła Akwinaty, porównywał jego system z rozważaniami Husserla i sama twórczo komentowała analizy Doktora Anielskiego. Spotkanie z fenomenologią i tomizmem doprowadziło Edytę Stein do decyzji wstąpienia do klasztoru karmelitańskiego i analiz doświadczenia mistycznego.
This paper is a review of Éric de Rus’s book: Anthropologie phénoménologique et théorie de l’éducation dans l’oeuvre d’Édith Stein (Paris: Les éditions du Cerf, 2019). According to the author, de Rus succeeds in portraying the philosophical and theological roots to Stein’s outlook on education by discussing, among other topics, her metaphysical and theological positions (particularly in relation to the structure of the human soul), her reflections on the education of women, and her rejection of Heideggerian metaphysics.
The study analyses, how Edith Stein compares the teaching of her both masters of thought. The comparison concerns the Edmund Husserl´s phenomenology and Thomas Aquinas´s philosophy of being. Starting from the idea of the philosophy, Edith Stein focuses on the link between the two ways of thinking, which are different for the content, social background and for the epistemological approach. Tough appear some common point, it is necessary to keep in mind, that the intentionality of knowledge isn´t compatible with the Thomism’s realism, which deals with the being´s intelligibility.
SK
Štúdia analyzuje, ako Edita Steinová porovnáva náuku svojich dvoch učiteľov myslenia. Porovnanie sa týka fenomenológie Edmunda Husserla a filozofie bytia Tomáša Akvinského. Vychádzajúc zo samotného pohľadu na filozofiu, Edita Steinová pozoruje styčné body medzi dvoma typológiami myslenia, líšiacimi sa obsahom, historickým a sociálnym kontextom, ako aj gnozeologickým prístupom. Ak sa aj objaví nejaká zhoda, treba mať na pamäti, že intencionalita poznania nie je zhodná s tomistickým realizmom, ktorý obhajuje rozumnosť bytia.
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