In the unfolding of her personality, Edith Stein was led on paths of philosophical thinking from phenomenology to the foundations of being. New horizons disclosed themselves to her searching spirit. She recognized the finitude of all created being and so also the mortality of human existence but, at the same time, too, its foundation in an absolute, eternal Being. Through the decisive effect of this inner openness, her philosophical path and her secular way of life gradually melded into the character of a contemplative person.
Her search for truth goes hand in hand with her sacrifice of her life, united to the sacrifice on the Cross. She lives this search out of a continually fresh enthusiasm and as a member of a universal church.@1 The spiritual fruits of this life's destiny, reflections committed to paper, have a sharp flavor and ripened especially during the time that Edith Stein lived in Carmel.
Edith Stein also had a definite social gift. Above all, she could listen attentively. The apostle James admonished Christians to practice listening: "Everyone should be instantly ready to hear, but be reserved in speaking" (Jas 1:19). Such true listening demands high qualities of character. Genuine listening consists not only in understanding words; it demands of the listener intensive empathy and identification, even going so far as to let oneself be changed to join someone else on the way.
Edith Stein possessed this gift which Gabriel Marcel appropriately calls "creative fidelity," which means making ourselves interiorly open and transparent. Being ready to give, we experience the mysterious reciprocity between free action and ready allowing. So we become participating listeners. It is the meeting of the contemplative and active dispositions of the spirit.@2
Edith Stein possessed this gift of making inner contact with others even though she herself preferred to remain reserved. What went on in the depths of her soul came out only sparingly. Many who knew her before and after her entrance into the convent attest to this. Her inner life remained her secret. But she cannot entirely conceal it from the inquiring eye of posterity. We who are already sufficiently distanced from her in time to listen in on her silence with understanding are permitted to read between the lines of her writings the messages of a soul that had mystical experiences, and probably also a presentiment of the meaning of her life and suffering for posterity.
Considered as a whole, Edith Stein's achievement is a synthesis that is, so to speak, inherently an "ecumenical" effort, synthesizing the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and Husserl's phenomenology; blending the Old and New Covenants; creating fellowship among Christian churches; equally valuing men and women; making limited, finite being at home in all-embracing, eternal being. In her person, Edith Stein herself unites the gifts of rigorous logical thinking and the intuitive flight of the muse, in a seldom found harmony.
In the comprehensive study of Finite and Eternal Being, we encounter her philosophical thinking, but also how she broke through the antithesis of spirit and matter to illuminating faith. Freed of enslavement to matter, the human soul can take flight up to God.
In the biographies and reflections of this volume, we encounter the spiritual intuition, this invisible divine breath, that led Edith Stein to Carmel where she lived for eight years as Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Even though the themes of these texts vary a great deal, the author shows that the paths to the religious formation of the human person are nevertheless parallel. Throughout we run into the possibility of the sanctification of the soul's efforts. This possibility becomes an actuality when we freely follow the pull of God's grace and allow ourselves to be led to perfection by God's Spirit. In her descriptions of saints, we see Edith Stein's great gift for psychologically penetrating figures from the past and for presenting them as alive. Her clear mind leads her to a faith-filled understanding of an order in all creation by the power of grace.
In summary, we may say that a four-fold goal has determined the selection of the contributions in this volume. The selections endeavor to:
establish a basis for the origin of Edith Stein's hagiographic essays and her spiritual reflections;
document Edith Stein's call to Carmel;
display her thinking in its deepest mystical form;
bring in the poetic components of Edith Stein's Carmelite spirituality.
This Volume XI of Edith Steins Werke in part contains new revised editions of earlier publications and in part the first publication of manuscripts from her literary estate. The texts originate from the years 1930 to 1942, thus from the turbulent period that begins with Edith Stein's move from Speyer to Münster, and ends shortly before her deportation from the Dutch Carmel in Echt and her death in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
Even though these manuscripts are often incomplete regarding date and signature, we were able to obtain the missing dates in indirect ways. We can also vouch for the authenticity of the writings with complete certainty.