Ways of Knowing God, Becoming Friends in Time; a timeless conversation between disability, theology, Edith Stein and Professor John Swinton

Abstract

Over time disability theology has successfully argued that ‘people with disabilities have at best been minority voices in the development of Christian theology and at worst have been completely silenced within its conversation’. Decisions have been made about people rather than with them. Disability theologian John Swinton believes that at the heart of this problem we might notice a judgemental ‘hypercognitive’. Church which, paradoxically, works in opposition to Christian anthropology of the givenness of every person. Such a paradox serves only to downgrade the ‘Locus theologicus: present in human experience’ and the faith expressions of ‘people whose life experience includes disability’. A reading of modern philosopher Edith Stein’s insatiable interest in the human person and the importance of empathic practice, within the human exchange, can make some significant contributions to this problematic issue. Emulating a method of inductive writing, utilized by Stein herself, the article investigates what this contribution might be by entering into an imaginary conversation between her phenomenal, anthropological-theological thinking and that of a foundational voice in disability theology, Professor John Swinton.¹

Keywords:

• Disability
• experience
• person essence
• response-ability
• sense-ability
• unrepeatable

Notes

1 The text I have referred to in this article used remains as close as possible to the works of Stein and Swinton. As more of Stein’s Werke is translated into Italian than English, I will provide the English translation with the Italian translation in the footnote. I do not speak German but am fluent in Italian. The majority of text , in her own words, have been taken from Stein E, (1926-1936) “Der Aufbau der menschlichen Person, Gesamtausgabe, Band 14, Verlag Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau translated by Ales Bello A and Paolini M La Struttura della Persona Umana: The Structure of the Human person (Roma: Citta’ Nuova 2013) Stein E, Finite and Eternal Being: An attempt at an ascent to the meaning of being translated by Kurt Reinhardt, ( Washington D.C: CWES, vol.9, ICS Publications, 2002), Stein E, Knowledge and Faith Translated by Verlag Herder , Freiburg im Breisgau 1993, Archivum Carmelitanum Band XV of Edith Stein Werke 1993 English translation (Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites 2000), xii. Throughout the article I will move between Edith Stein’s work as an accomplished academic and her more spiritual writing as a Carmelite nun. For this reason and where appropriate, I refer to her either as Edith Stein or in her religious order as Sister Teresa Benedicta. I am also aware of the challenging twist that listening to a key note speaker, who has indeed had the date of their death declared, might make to the more usual progress of logic. I thus thank the reader for allowing their imagination to be stretched in such a way

2 Edith Stein was a keen linguist who often hyphenated her words to expose the sense and essence of a thing. This is also emulated in the brilliant interpretation of Stein’s writings by Italian Steinian expert and philosopher Patrizia Manganaro where the term ‘respons-abilita’’ (response-able) can be found. I have found this practice in Manganaro’s book: Persona-Logos to illuminate my understanding of Stein’s Werke. Manganaro, P. Persona-Logos; La sintesi filosofica-teologica in Edith Stein (Rome: Lateran University Press 2015)p,39.