In light of Pope Francis’ call for a deeper theology of women, a
leading Italian philosopher spoke of the importance of Edith Stein’s
writings on gender, saying that she extracts the essence of human
sexuality.
“For women it is easier because they are taught through this experience
of pregnancy something about man, about the truth of man that is more
difficult for us males to understand and to enter,” Rocco Buttiglione
told CNA during an Oct. 31 interview.
Buttiglione, who is currently a professor of political science at St.
Pius V University in Rome and who has spent the majority of his career
teaching various topics of philosophy, has recently returned from the
Franciscan University of Stuebenville, Ohio, where he delivered the
Philosophy Department’s annual “Edith Stein Lecture.”
Upon returning from his Oct. 23 talk, entitled “Beyond Descartes:
Intersubjectivity as Ground of Knowledge of the Self,” the philosopher
spoke with CNA, stressing that Stein’s writings are pertinent to the
ongoing dialogue surrounding women in the Church.
Edith Stein – also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross – “has
already had a part in the inspiration of the documents of John Paul II
‘Mulieris Dignitatem’ and ‘Familiaris Consortio,’” he noted, adding that
the saint gives us “very important” insights about women, specifically
in the context of pregnancy, which can aid in the development of a
deeper theology of women.
“What is the difference between men and women: women can become
pregnant, men cannot, and pregnancy is the experience of carrying
another person bodily, physically in yourself.”
However, Buttiglione highlighted how “there is an archetypical
experience for what it means to be a person,” stressing that “a person
is a being who can carry in himself, in his heart another human being in
order to help him to reach the fullness of life, in order him to be
born in eternal life.”
An important concept of Stein’s which we are able to continue learning
from today, specifically in regard to gender, Buttiglione reflected, is
that of the essence and true being of man.
“A large part of the discussion in the last centuries in the Church has
been the Church and modernity,” he noted, stating that “classical
philosophy begins with being,” while “modern philosophy begins with the
subject, the ego, man.”
“Now Edith Stein teaches us to begin with man, but not with the abstract
subject of a large part of modern philosophy, but with the real
existing man,” he stressed.
“The abstract subject is a man who has no sex. While the real human being is either male or female.”
“The transcendental ego,” Buttiglione emphasized, has no connections,
while “the real human being has parents, has children. Since the
beginning, he is himself, is free, I am myself, I am free, but I am also
bound, bound to others, bound to my parents, bound to my wife, bound to
my children.
“The richness, the real richness of the life of human being is exactly
the fact that he is member of communities, that he united himself,
communities, that he is a creator of communities.”
“Edith Stein,” stressed Buttiglione, “gives us a pillar for this new
vision of a Christianity in the modern age that tells also modernity not
to lose her values, because modernity seems to be going to die.”
Noting how many believe “that the modern age is exhausted,” the
philosopher states that “now we can revive the values of modernity…if we
accept to ground them on the really existing human being, that man who
is the glory of God, the image of God on earth.”
Rocco Buttiglione is also a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies as
well as the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, and was a close
friend of Bl. John Paul II.
Having originally met John Paul II when he was still a cardinal after
publishing a book on the pontiff’s personal philosophy, Buttliglione
reflected that the late Holy Father “was really a friend of everybody,”
and that those who were close to him “all felt deeply united.”
When asked how it feels to have a friend who will be canonized,
Buttiglione jested that “I hope that when the time comes he will say a
good word on my behalf.”