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THE PILLAR OF FIRE
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Published January 1, 1959
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September 24, 2024
THE RELIGIOUS JOURNEY FROM JUDAISM TO CATHOLICISM OF THE FAMED NEUROPATHOLOGIST
Karl Stern (1906-1975) was a German-Canadian neurologist and psychiatrist, who emigrated from Nazi Germany to England in 1936, becoming a neuropathologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute, under Wilder Penfield. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 310-page hardcover edition.]
He wrote in the Foreword to this 1951 book, "To write the story of a conversion is a foolish undertaking for the convert, the 'turned-around,' is a fool. He is a fool in the sense in which Saint Paul uses this word... All true love is subjective and unique... There is something about falling in love which cannot be re-experienced by the outsider; it is something lonely... Seen 'from outside' a conversion is something adventurous and anarchic... If there are certainties, one must be able to find them. That one simple question, whether Jesus of Nazareth was God incarnate, becomes increasingly decisive between people... What if all that is folly in the eyes of the Greeks, and scandal in the eyes of the Jews, is Truth?" (Pg. 3-4)
Of his childhood days, he recalls, "The people of my parents' generation were almost entirely cut off from Jewish tradition. They hardly understood Hebrew, and therefore were unable to follow the liturgy... I know that my mother was deeply familiar with the pathos of solitude, of suffering and of self-denial, but she was too restrained with herself and with us to ever use such words... It was part of her tolerant eclecticism that she helped with the preparations for all the beautiful religious ceremonies in the house. She enjoyed getting ready for a Friday evening Seder table but she liked equally decorating the Christmas tree for the maids and children. Christmas was always celebrated because Mother was afraid lest it cause me anguish if all my friends in the neighborhood enjoyed a feast full of joy and light while we were sitting in a dark weekday room." (Pg. 16-17)
After he had entered his profession, "I was the only Jewish physician of my age in a non-Jewish institution in all of Germany who was not affected by the 'Aryan' laws. This was due to the fact that ... I was holding a position under the Rockefeller Foundation... I took part in the activities of the Zionist groups... Nevertheless... pure Zionism ... left me dissatisfied and with the definite sense of a void... Perhaps even then I felt at the bottom of my heart that a mere withdrawal into a national culture was not a solution for the Jews, and what we needed in the end was a universal solution, a solution which was equally applicable and equally binding on those poor devils around us who persecuted us." (Pg. 158-159)
He states, "the drama in history which I have witnessed myself, the fate of European Jewry, was either meaningless, or else its meaning was transcendental. There is no other alternative. Now if you believe in the existence of God the first possibility is excluded, and that agony of horror which we witnessed in our time must have a meaning which transcends all materialist dialectics. Since I believed in the existence of God, the answer was obvious." (Pg. 163)
While he was listening to a Cardinal's sermon in 1933 which asserted the Jewishness of Jesus and the unity of Christianity and Judaism, "I suddenly realized for the first time in my life that things were not as static as all that. Did not the Prophets imply that through the Messiah the Word was to be carried to the 'farthest islands'? ... Contemplate for a moment that there had once been a tiny people at the periphery of the Roman Empire, submerged within an ocean of a thousand creeds, which jealously guarded the precious treasure of Revelation within the walls of its Bity---and here I standing two millenniums later and listening to those who did not belong to Israel in the flesh but defended the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Moses, Isaiah and Job as if their own lives were at stake. My first claim, my proud assertion... namely that the election was 'ours'---suddenly seemed to be taken away from me." (Pg. 171-172)
He recalls, "I went to see Martin Buber about my increasing spiritual difficulties. I told him that I had been studying the Epistles of Saint John, and I found there the spirit of Judaism expressed with such purity and in such overwhelming intensity that I could not understand why we did not accept the New Testament... To this he replied that it was true that the Epistles of Saint John were Judaism at its highest, and that he could well understand my enthusiasm. 'However,' he said, 'if you want to accept Christ and the New Testament, the maxims of the Epistles are not enough. You must also believe in the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection of Christ from the dead.' These things are hard to believe, he said." (Pg. 177)
Later, I made the acquaintance of two people who had a decisive influence on our further development, Jacques Maritain and Dorothy Day... For a long time I had wanted to meet Maritain... I thought that if there was one man in the Church who would have an answer to many of my questions, he was the man. Nobody in the Church seemed to have had a more profound understanding of the Jewish problem... I told him about my spiritual experiences in London, and that I often believed that my conversion was nothing but a mirage produced by an unconscious desire to escape the destiny of a Jew. He implored me not to allow the precious fruit of my spiritual experiences to be corroded by psychological self-analysis, to believe in the goodness of these insights..." (Pg. 251)
This is one of the most famous religious autobiographies of the 20th century, and will be of great interest to those interested in such accounts.
Karl Stern (1906-1975) was a German-Canadian neurologist and psychiatrist, who emigrated from Nazi Germany to England in 1936, becoming a neuropathologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute, under Wilder Penfield. [NOTE: page numbers below refer to the 310-page hardcover edition.]
He wrote in the Foreword to this 1951 book, "To write the story of a conversion is a foolish undertaking for the convert, the 'turned-around,' is a fool. He is a fool in the sense in which Saint Paul uses this word... All true love is subjective and unique... There is something about falling in love which cannot be re-experienced by the outsider; it is something lonely... Seen 'from outside' a conversion is something adventurous and anarchic... If there are certainties, one must be able to find them. That one simple question, whether Jesus of Nazareth was God incarnate, becomes increasingly decisive between people... What if all that is folly in the eyes of the Greeks, and scandal in the eyes of the Jews, is Truth?" (Pg. 3-4)
Of his childhood days, he recalls, "The people of my parents' generation were almost entirely cut off from Jewish tradition. They hardly understood Hebrew, and therefore were unable to follow the liturgy... I know that my mother was deeply familiar with the pathos of solitude, of suffering and of self-denial, but she was too restrained with herself and with us to ever use such words... It was part of her tolerant eclecticism that she helped with the preparations for all the beautiful religious ceremonies in the house. She enjoyed getting ready for a Friday evening Seder table but she liked equally decorating the Christmas tree for the maids and children. Christmas was always celebrated because Mother was afraid lest it cause me anguish if all my friends in the neighborhood enjoyed a feast full of joy and light while we were sitting in a dark weekday room." (Pg. 16-17)
After he had entered his profession, "I was the only Jewish physician of my age in a non-Jewish institution in all of Germany who was not affected by the 'Aryan' laws. This was due to the fact that ... I was holding a position under the Rockefeller Foundation... I took part in the activities of the Zionist groups... Nevertheless... pure Zionism ... left me dissatisfied and with the definite sense of a void... Perhaps even then I felt at the bottom of my heart that a mere withdrawal into a national culture was not a solution for the Jews, and what we needed in the end was a universal solution, a solution which was equally applicable and equally binding on those poor devils around us who persecuted us." (Pg. 158-159)
He states, "the drama in history which I have witnessed myself, the fate of European Jewry, was either meaningless, or else its meaning was transcendental. There is no other alternative. Now if you believe in the existence of God the first possibility is excluded, and that agony of horror which we witnessed in our time must have a meaning which transcends all materialist dialectics. Since I believed in the existence of God, the answer was obvious." (Pg. 163)
While he was listening to a Cardinal's sermon in 1933 which asserted the Jewishness of Jesus and the unity of Christianity and Judaism, "I suddenly realized for the first time in my life that things were not as static as all that. Did not the Prophets imply that through the Messiah the Word was to be carried to the 'farthest islands'? ... Contemplate for a moment that there had once been a tiny people at the periphery of the Roman Empire, submerged within an ocean of a thousand creeds, which jealously guarded the precious treasure of Revelation within the walls of its Bity---and here I standing two millenniums later and listening to those who did not belong to Israel in the flesh but defended the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Moses, Isaiah and Job as if their own lives were at stake. My first claim, my proud assertion... namely that the election was 'ours'---suddenly seemed to be taken away from me." (Pg. 171-172)
He recalls, "I went to see Martin Buber about my increasing spiritual difficulties. I told him that I had been studying the Epistles of Saint John, and I found there the spirit of Judaism expressed with such purity and in such overwhelming intensity that I could not understand why we did not accept the New Testament... To this he replied that it was true that the Epistles of Saint John were Judaism at its highest, and that he could well understand my enthusiasm. 'However,' he said, 'if you want to accept Christ and the New Testament, the maxims of the Epistles are not enough. You must also believe in the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection of Christ from the dead.' These things are hard to believe, he said." (Pg. 177)
Later, I made the acquaintance of two people who had a decisive influence on our further development, Jacques Maritain and Dorothy Day... For a long time I had wanted to meet Maritain... I thought that if there was one man in the Church who would have an answer to many of my questions, he was the man. Nobody in the Church seemed to have had a more profound understanding of the Jewish problem... I told him about my spiritual experiences in London, and that I often believed that my conversion was nothing but a mirage produced by an unconscious desire to escape the destiny of a Jew. He implored me not to allow the precious fruit of my spiritual experiences to be corroded by psychological self-analysis, to believe in the goodness of these insights..." (Pg. 251)
This is one of the most famous religious autobiographies of the 20th century, and will be of great interest to those interested in such accounts.
December 31, 2023
How surprising that no one has left a review of this book. I'll attempt to do the Goodreads community what I hope is a favor, because Dr. Karl Stern's autobiography "The Pillar of Fire" has something for everyone, including those who aren't interested in stories about conversions to Catholicism.
Dr. Stern was born in 1906 into a Jewish family in rural Bavaria. Lovers of history might enjoy his exposition about the cultural and social milieu in late 19th- and early 20th-century Europe. He depicts this culture from the perspective of an educated European who is trained as a physician and who loves music and the arts.
It may be uncomfortable to read yet another eyewitness account about the Nazis and the havoc they wreaked in Europe, but such voices should be heard. Almost a century has elapsed since Hitler rose to power, but the old saw that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it certainly bears mentioning.
Health care professionals might enjoy the chronicle of Dr. Stern's medical training. To me, it sounded like it was intellectually rigorous, though it seemed to be more free-flowing than modern institutional medical training. But never mind me; I'm a retired engineer, so what do I know about health care training? Many of the scientists in Dr. Stern's orbit come across as dedicated and self-sacrificing individuals, while others seem to dehumanize their patients. Too bad the "good ones" are "out of network," and I can't visit them for my own checkups!
Dr. Stern's autobiography isn't easy to read, as he has a knack for expressing complex ideas in a deceptively simple way, and it was complex idea after complex idea from start to finish. I had to read slowly, and it took an effort for my smartphone-addled brain to grasp what he meant, but I assure you that the read was worth the headache! He uses English better than most of us, and I wager someone born in Bavaria wouldn't use English as a first language!
This autobiography differs from a modern memoir in that there's a great deal of exposition before readers reach the point of the story, i.e., his religious conversion. Modern stories are all about that "hook" where you have to emotionally invest your readers before the first chapter (or even the first paragraph!) is finished, or they'll move along seeking the next dopamine hit.
It used to be a point of pride for readers to slog through the initial exposition before reaching the "hook." In "Kristin Lavransdatter, The Wreath," IMO, the story wasn't interesting until the little sister Ulvhild was trapped under the logs and Fru Ashild joined the family. In "Fellowship of the Ring," the hook wasn't felt until Frodo actually left the Shire with the Black Riders after him. I guess I'll let the literary scholars debate the merits of "hooks" vs. the inclusion of exposition and backstory. And I mean no disrespect to such greats as Tolkein and Sigrid Undset.
Now that I've "made the slog," I'm glad this autobiography provided so much exposition, as it helped a reader like myself put his religious conversion into context, as his environment is unfamiliar to me as a 21st century American.
I first became acquainted with "conversion stories" when I heard a cassette tape of Professor Scott Hahn before "Rome Sweet Home" was published. The interplay between God's calling and a person's response is, to me, endlessly fascinating. But Dr. Hahn (as are most of the stories I read or hear) comes from a cultural context that is familiar to me. So pages of exposition aren't needed. Who knows, maybe readers a century from now might need the context!
At the end of the book is Dr. Stern's "Letter to My Brother," where he summarizes his thoughts about why his Judaism flowered into Catholicism. If you're not in the mood for a romp through 20th-century European history but only want the reasoning behind his conversion, then this is a good place to start. I like how Dr. Stern skewers scientism. As an engineer, I find such thinking limited. I'm just not as eloquent at exposing it as Dr. Stern. Then again, few people will be.
At the end of the story, a reader is renewed and refreshed by this intelligent person's reflections that even though humanity seems to have an endless capacity for evil, there still exist honest people of good will who, whether they know it or not, are holding onto God's hand while they make the world a better place.
Dr. Stern was born in 1906 into a Jewish family in rural Bavaria. Lovers of history might enjoy his exposition about the cultural and social milieu in late 19th- and early 20th-century Europe. He depicts this culture from the perspective of an educated European who is trained as a physician and who loves music and the arts.
It may be uncomfortable to read yet another eyewitness account about the Nazis and the havoc they wreaked in Europe, but such voices should be heard. Almost a century has elapsed since Hitler rose to power, but the old saw that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it certainly bears mentioning.
Health care professionals might enjoy the chronicle of Dr. Stern's medical training. To me, it sounded like it was intellectually rigorous, though it seemed to be more free-flowing than modern institutional medical training. But never mind me; I'm a retired engineer, so what do I know about health care training? Many of the scientists in Dr. Stern's orbit come across as dedicated and self-sacrificing individuals, while others seem to dehumanize their patients. Too bad the "good ones" are "out of network," and I can't visit them for my own checkups!
Dr. Stern's autobiography isn't easy to read, as he has a knack for expressing complex ideas in a deceptively simple way, and it was complex idea after complex idea from start to finish. I had to read slowly, and it took an effort for my smartphone-addled brain to grasp what he meant, but I assure you that the read was worth the headache! He uses English better than most of us, and I wager someone born in Bavaria wouldn't use English as a first language!
This autobiography differs from a modern memoir in that there's a great deal of exposition before readers reach the point of the story, i.e., his religious conversion. Modern stories are all about that "hook" where you have to emotionally invest your readers before the first chapter (or even the first paragraph!) is finished, or they'll move along seeking the next dopamine hit.
It used to be a point of pride for readers to slog through the initial exposition before reaching the "hook." In "Kristin Lavransdatter, The Wreath," IMO, the story wasn't interesting until the little sister Ulvhild was trapped under the logs and Fru Ashild joined the family. In "Fellowship of the Ring," the hook wasn't felt until Frodo actually left the Shire with the Black Riders after him. I guess I'll let the literary scholars debate the merits of "hooks" vs. the inclusion of exposition and backstory. And I mean no disrespect to such greats as Tolkein and Sigrid Undset.
Now that I've "made the slog," I'm glad this autobiography provided so much exposition, as it helped a reader like myself put his religious conversion into context, as his environment is unfamiliar to me as a 21st century American.
I first became acquainted with "conversion stories" when I heard a cassette tape of Professor Scott Hahn before "Rome Sweet Home" was published. The interplay between God's calling and a person's response is, to me, endlessly fascinating. But Dr. Hahn (as are most of the stories I read or hear) comes from a cultural context that is familiar to me. So pages of exposition aren't needed. Who knows, maybe readers a century from now might need the context!
At the end of the book is Dr. Stern's "Letter to My Brother," where he summarizes his thoughts about why his Judaism flowered into Catholicism. If you're not in the mood for a romp through 20th-century European history but only want the reasoning behind his conversion, then this is a good place to start. I like how Dr. Stern skewers scientism. As an engineer, I find such thinking limited. I'm just not as eloquent at exposing it as Dr. Stern. Then again, few people will be.
At the end of the story, a reader is renewed and refreshed by this intelligent person's reflections that even though humanity seems to have an endless capacity for evil, there still exist honest people of good will who, whether they know it or not, are holding onto God's hand while they make the world a better place.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews