Contemplating Edith Stein

by Joyce Avrech Berkman (Editor)

Controversy surrounding the beatification and canonization of Edith Stein, a Catholic convert of Jewish heritage who was murdered at Auschwitz, has eclipsed scholarly and public attention to Stein’s extraordinary development as a philosopher. She succeeded in extending phenomenological inquiry into the nature of person, community, and state; in analyzing the truth claims of empathic knowledge; in probing the foundations of pedagogy; and in offering a synthesis of medieval philosophy and phenomenology. Only the second woman in German history to be awarded a Ph.D. in philosophy, Stein ranks among the leading early-twentieth-century European intellectuals. She also made lasting contributions, both intellectual and practical, to women’s education, freedom, and equality in Germany. The sixteen essays in this collection, written by scholars from the United States and Europe, critically examine her legacy. This volume represents the first comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis in English of Stein’s life and philosophical writings. The book is divided into three sections―biographical explorations, Stein's feminist theory and pedagogy, and her creative philosophical contributions. The essays in this volume also situate Stein’s life and thought in the complex historical context of early-twentieth-century Germany.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jacob Torbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contemplating Edith Stein is a wonderful volume for any person wishing to study Stein's writing. The essays within are written by notable contemporary scholars of Stein and present insightful, critical evaluations of her life, her feminist writings, and her philosophy, which almost any Stein scholar will find most helpful.