An Encounter with a Great Saint Who Overcame the Limits of Psychology: Edith Stein (Saint, Philosopher, Sister, Martyr, Patron Saint of Europe)
I remember it as summer 2006. God gave me a chance to learn French, the second most populous language in the world after English. The opportunity to go to France as a theology student and travel to Europe near France after completing a training course at Lyon Catholic University was a pilgrimage led by God. I was a Protestant when I was a child, but I was atheist when I was a college student, and I was obedient to the truth of the Catholic Church, and I once majored in Western philosophy and got a degree in college before entering the seminary.
In Korean society, philosophy is understood as a major to study astrology and astrologers who spread mats in Miari and foretell the future. Also, the study of philosophy was too hungry to choose as a job to live in this capitalist society. It was the philosopher "Edith Stein" who had the greatest influence in studying Western philosophy, not psychology.
Germany was the first place I visited after finishing my college training course in France. The purpose of my visit to Germany was to check with my own eyes the footsteps of my beloved saint and philosopher Edith Stein and the scene where the saint was active. Saint Edith Stein of the Sister Carmel Church, who died in the gas chamber of the Auschwitz prison in Poland, was a philosopher who overcame the limitations of "psychology" that are in vogue these days.
The Catholic Church defines philosophy as basic studies that must be trained before entering theology. In particular, Saint Thomas Aquinas' philosophy methodology is recognized as the official philosophical system of the Catholic Church. This is simply a way of developing 'the harmony of faith and reason'. Since rational judgment alone cannot understand God, we use philosophy as a stepping stone to surpass theology's methodology. Therefore, philosophy has a background in which the expression "Lady of theology" has emerged.
Anyway, I was taught that philosophy should not be regarded as a scholar who is despised for being a maid of theology, but rather as a situation where one should be thankful for securing the status of a maid of theology. In a way, Catholic interpretation and Catholic way of viewing are the areas of belief that transcend human sensory and cognitive abilities and actively converge with human will.
About 100 years ago, there was a genius girl who dreamed of becoming a psychologist based on atheism. The girl was Jewish and a scholarly woman preparing for a doctor of psychology. This girl met God. How did they meet? We met through a book. The book was the autobiography of Teresa of the saint Avila. Through this book, I let go of my dream of becoming an atheist-based psychologist and shout, "Das ist die Wahrheit!" I couldn't let go of the book. Because I met God intensely in this book.
Edith Stein, who majored in experimental psychology and prepared for a doctorate in psychology at the university, clearly realizes the limits of psychology by confessing, "There is no God in psychology." She had a deep interest in personality and the human mind, and the title of her doctorate thesis was "On the Problem of Empath." Through this paper, I study psychological and physical individuals.
The student's testimony taught by Edith Stein is as follows: "The most fundamental characteristic of Edith's personality is that he has warm love. This love penetrated into another's mind and shared his pain and helped him. This was something only a saint could do, leading to Christ." (F.M. Oven, translated by Yoo Jae-ok, Edith Stein's Life and Idea, St. Paul's Publishing Company, 1991, p. 46) Edith Stein translates Cardinal Henry Newman's Ideology of University and Saint Thomas Aquinas's De Veritate, at the recommendation. The translation is said to be a complete translation of the original Latin text into the first German version.
The saint received a doctorate in philosophy for the first time in German history. The saint was the first woman to teach at a university platform in Germany, although she failed to achieve her dream as a college professor. In this day and age when a radical or some combative feminist movement is sweeping modern society and universities, Edith Stein's whole life is considered the standard and model of the true feminist movement the Catholic Church is pursuing.
Today is Edith Stein's Saint's Day. It's the day of martyrdom at Auschwitz Prison in Poland. A saint named Teresa, blessed with a cross. Edith Stein praised God as "the greatest teacher or educator." As I learned psychology systematically as well as philosophy in college, I experienced the limitations of psychology that the saint was frustrated and suspicious of. In the end, psychology should make clear to me that I should serve theology and devote myself to the Catholic Church as a lot and devote myself to the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church clearly states this fact as a doctrine.
The academic orientation of the saint, who moved from psychology to philosophy and theology, was perhaps God's providence. Truth was not an object of nonsense and unconvincing speech, but God, and to know this God, the saint happily embraced the methodology and theology of Thomism. In 1933, at the age of 42, God discovered the traces of Edith Stein, who joined the Carmel Block convent in Cologne, Germany, and gave him the opportunity to meet the nuns, descendants of the saints.
I remember paying a few euros for a real picture of a saint who was taken and printed inside the Carmel convent in Cologne. I remember the old nuns warmly welcoming me as a seminary student from Korea. I saw and took pictures of the nunnery where the saint stayed, the desk where I studied, contemplated and prayed, and the place where I lived in the capital. Because I don't trust my senses and memories, I wanted to take one more picture and become a priest to promote the great achievements and virtues of the saint. Therefore, I affirm the Korean proverb, "All that remains is photography."
There is a picture of Saint Edith Stein hanging on the wall in the room where I study. Looking at the saint, I once again recall the academic methodology based on Thomism and marvel at the greatness of God's learning. The Catholic Church's recognized philosophy and theological system of nature, harmony of faith and reason, and the synthesis of philosophy and theology have become the standard of educational methodology and academic methodology in seminary schools around the world. The position of psychology as an area to be supplemented in order to cooperate with theology and to get to know this God's learning is stated as follows:
God, lead us to become worthy beings worthy of the sacrifice of Teresa, blessed with the cross of the saint!
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The norms of Christian education are to be religiously observed and properly complemented by the newer findings of sound psychology and pedagogy. Therefore, by a wisely planned training there is also to be developed in the students a due human maturity. This will be made especially evident in stability of mind, in an ability to make weighty decisions, and in a sound evaluation of men and events. The students should be accustomed to work properly at their own development. They are to be formed in strength of character, and, in general, they are to learn to esteem those virtues which are held in high regard by men and which recommend a minister of Christ. Such virtues are sincerity of mind, a constant concern for justice, fidelity to one's promises, refinement in manners, modesty in speech coupled with charity.
11, OPTATAM TOTIUS, DOCUMENTS OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL
ref. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651028_optatam-totius_en.html
