Deep Dive: St. Edith Stein's Essays on Woman

 Deep Dive: Essays on Woman, by St. Edith Stein

When I inherited this book from my sister, who was giving away all her belongings to join a religious order, I'm sure I thought to myself something like, "This will be good to read someday, but I'm not going to get around to it anytime soon."

I'm so grateful now that a friend opted to read these essays as the next installment of our 2-person book club. After reading the first essay, I am reminded of how much academic reading actually does suit me. I may never be a professional intellectual, but there is a refreshing reminder of how it feels to exercise my brain. It must do the work of tackling more formal grammar, structured progression of thought, and building upon foundational defined terminology. It is a joy to use the brain that God gave to me, and I think it will be a blessing to once again have a work that I can reflect upon more deeply.

Essay 1: The Ethos of Women's Professions

I love St. Edith from the beginning of her writing. She takes the time do define "habitus", but then jumps into some thorny topics: Is there a vocation or work natural to woman? Are there jobs which are considered "feminine?" In spite of how this issue generally raises my hackles when anyone else writes about it, Edith gently disarms my prickly predispositions and calmly makes reply. Yes, the natural vocation of woman is wife and mother, and it would take someone far gone into aggressive ideology to deny that a woman's very body and all of history make this evident. And yet, any work that can be done by man is appropriate for women to do. Some work is indeed more "feminine" insofar as woman gravitate towards "that which is living, personal, and whole" (p. 45), and certain professions provide more opportunities for women to exercise those feminine tendencies. If you ever noticed that the fields of education, social work, and nursing lean heavily female in their demographics - there's a reason for that! Edith seems to be working from a place in which it is a "given" that women and men operate differently, and we can see these differences in the way we live our lives.

I appreciate Edith's explanation that women can work in any field, including those which are more "masculine" and abstract by nature, for even here, women can exercise their natural female inclinations and make a very intellectual field more humane by their efforts to build relationship, nurture growth, and focus on the whole person. The work can be done regardless of someone's sex, but the way in which it is performed will look different, depending on whether the worker is a man or a women.

A special section for me was the paragraph in which Edith explains that wives experience the call to be a companion to their husbands, which includes taking interest in the husband's work. This work may not naturally be of interest to the wife, but she takes an interest in it for the sake of the person she shares the relationship with (46). This paragraph is a reminder to me to try to truly be present to my husband and others when they are sharing with me, because by taking the time to really care about their experiences, I can build them up and send them out into the world ready to do more of what God has called them to do.

Perhaps the last thing I will reflect on for this essay is Edith's consideration of how fallen human nature plays out in consideration of femininity. She showed that for several of the ways that a woman naturally inclines, there is a way that inclination can be warped from the ideal. For example, a natural propensity for a personal aspect will tend towards vanity and self-absorption. Likewise, the yearn for the whole can result in a jack-of-all-trades, master of none situation with personal skills, and a desire to dominate rather than serve. I felt very called out by the jack-of-all-trades comparison! It is good to be reminded that these natural feminine inclinations also have a dark side that show how the effects of the fall can play out.

Essay 2: The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman

This essay sees St. Edith diving into Scripture and considering what the "calling" of men and women would be based on what we see in Scripture, as well as in human experience. She spent a bit more time talking about Man taking preeminence in the order of creation - I did get a bit of a "rubbed the wrong way" sensation here - but when she talked about how things are distorted by the fall and that men and women inherently have the same vocational qualities, but they're in different degrees and combinations, I felt a bit more peaceful. 

I especially enjoyed Edith pointing out that the Protoevangelium (Gen. 3:15) tasks Woman with the charge to battle evil - not saying that men don't have this, but that little girl part of me who fell in love with St. Joan of Arc, and the more mature girl who has been fascinated by Eowyn, wanting to fight evil herself, and the adult Jessica who realizes that Mary is the original "female warrior queen," in a way - all these parts of me were very happy to think about that connection Edith makes.

I feel it's trite to say that an author from early in another century has observations that are equally applicable in the modern day...but that's the case here. Edith has much to say about culture changing for the better so that women can more easily exercise skills or qualities that may have been neglected at other times in favor of more immediate survival needs. She repeats that there are no vocations (in this sense, "jobs") that are only for men or only for women, but she does except the priesthood. She is so knowledgeable. She gave some history on the role of women in the Church, remarking that women were, early on, sometimes ordained to the deaconate, but never to the priesthood. This essay was well-developed but also, clearly, spans a wide range of knowledge.

My final thoughts on this essay center on Edith remarking yet again that the realm of abstract knowledge is more within the domain of men than it is of women. I thought, "How interesting that a female philosopher should say this. Isn't philosophy one of the most abstract topics you can think about?" And then I remembered some learning I did about her when I audited classes at my alma mater 5 years ago. Edith trained in the philosophical school of phenomenology, which a quick Google search reveals to me is a philosophical vision that is grounded in personal experiences. These personal experiences are at the opposite end of the spectrum from pure abstractions. Perhaps it is no wonder that this specific school of philosophy was the one in which Edith made herself at home!

There are many wonderful lines worth taking note of from this essay, and I'm not sure that I'm going to write any of them down. This is certainly an essay that will be worth visiting again.

Essay 3: Spirituality of the Christian Woman

This one was read over the span of a week, so it's a lot harder for me to remember my impressions. From literature, she draws examples of women and shows that something like emotional education is a major part of women's development? I'm sure there's more to it than that, but the examples show there needs to be formation of a woman's soul, and that it can be formed incorrectly or left unformed, to great detriment.

Part two considerations what that formation might consist of. Perhaps this is the part that has more to say about emotional formation. Skimming through this section has just reminded me that I read a book earlier this year - The Anxious Generation - that spoke at length about "contagious" emotional states, and Edith says that emotions can be contagious. She was certainly an intelligent and astute woman.

The third section considers feminine vocations; I leave off skimming because she's spoken so beautifully about it in other places. The fourth section considers "Women's life in the light of eternity," and the part that stood out to me was her discussion of the married state, the religious vocation, and the unmarried woman living in the world, and how their lives can be lived most fully in God's love. Also, I appreciated her specific comments on marriage, including how we must turn always to God, the inexhaustible source of life, for carrying us through the daily trials and sacrifices of marriage. 

I know I'm missing much, but this essay - though lengthy - has some excellent points.

Essay 4: Fundamental Principles of Women's Education

This essay lays out Edith's idea of what the ideal education of women looks like, as well as the practical aspects of how to set up a system to implement this sort of education. I had a bit more trouble tracking with this essay, which I was mildly bummed about, considering how significant I find the issue of education. However, there were some points that stood out to me. For example, I found it interesting that Edith stressed the importance of practical application alongside theoretical work; there is a place for both, and both are necessary for different reasons - theoretical work to grow the intellect, and practical application because the world needs women who can apply practical skills in both jobs and in family life. This certainly made sense to me.

I also appreciated Edith stating that education ought to be individualized at some level to work with the natural talents and inclinations of the individual woman. There should be theoretical work, but how much and in what field may depend more on what the teacher sees in the girl. I am not sure that I agree fully with her vision - of women being funneled into specific vocational schools based on their predispositions. This may, perhaps, be a result of growing up in a culture in which, firstly, it's not unusual to go to college and not know "what you want to be when you grow up" yet, and secondly, in which people change careers - not just jobs or positions, but careers - multiple times throughout their life. I'd be concerned about being directed to pursue a certain job or subset of careers, and receive all my schooling in that area, only to find that I don't want to work in it at all when I graduate. Perhaps there's an element of trust needed to make this model work - a trust that the teachers know their students well enough to make those recommendations, and perhaps trust that there can still be options if one line of work doesn't pan out after all.

Essay 5: Problems of Women's Education

Frankly, this essay was so long and read over so many spurts that I don't have anything really to put down here. I know it would be worth my time to go through it again someday, but it's not going to happen right now.

Essay 6: The Church, Woman, and Youth

This essay spends a good amount of time considering Woman and her role in the Church, and in salvation (including discussion of Mary's role and Mary as role model). Edith then goes on to explain how women are so important to the life of the Church, especially in regards to education. She goes so far as to say there are some things that are better for girls to receive from women than from a priest in an educational role (specifically, I think she means this in reference to educating girls about periods, etc.). I think she also emphasizes that the point of education is formation as a child of God. I say "I think" because it's been over a week since I finished reading this essay. That alone is a point worth pondering for a good while. This is a great line:

"Millions of children today are homeless and orphaned, even though they do have a home and a mother...Who else than our great holy mother the Church should open her arms wide to take these beloved of the Lord to her heart? But for this she needs human arms and human hearts, maternal arms and maternal hearts." pp. 250-1

Essay 7: The Significance of Woman's Intrinsic Value in National Life

St. Edith begins with some history on the movement of women's emancipation or the feminist movement, and then moves on to some of the pitfalls inherent to the character of women, and how to address those shortcomings. I found it interesting that she considered objective work to be a good antidote, and that objective work could include not just math and science, or a trade, but housework. It is good for people to work! And St. Edith communicates here that it is important for women to have useful occupations, too. The longer I live, the more I see that in my own experience. However, she also emphasizes that God's assistance is necessary. Only after covering these points does she move on to considering Woman and her role in the life of a nation. She recounts the roles in which women find themselves: as wives and mothers, as teachers and professionals, and as politicians. I'm not sure what conclusions I draw from the essay overall, but it was an essay that felt more approachable than one or two of the earlier ones.

Essay 8: Mission of the Catholic Academic Woman

I half-smiled throughout this book whenever St. Edith discussed women religious or single women working in the academic field, because she was both, although somewhat more at different times in her life. It is a short essay, but one that I think could be very meaningful to women who find themselves single in the world of academia.

Conclusion

There's food for thought here that makes this book well worth rereading, and I hope to make time to do that someday. There are plenty of other books to look into before the time comes to pick this one up again, but reading this book makes me wish more Catholics - theologians and academics included - were engaging her thought and making it part of Catholic discussion today. I've never read something in which the writer was able to calm my "raised hackles" about ideas of femininity in the way St. Edith has, and I think we'd be able to have some sane and beautiful conversations about the role of Woman in the Church if we used these essays as a starting place.