CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- In light of Pope Francis\u2019 call for a deeper theology of women, a leading Italian philosopher spoke of the importance of Edith Stein\u2019s writings on gender, saying that she extracts the essence of human sexuality.<\/p>\n\t\u201cFor 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,\u201d Rocco Buttiglione told CNA during an Oct. 31 interview.<\/p>\n
\tButtiglione, 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\u2019s annual \u201cEdith Stein Lecture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tUpon returning from his Oct. 23 talk, entitled \u201cBeyond Descartes: Intersubjectivity as Ground of Knowledge of the Self,\u201d the philosopher spoke with CNA, stressing that Stein\u2019s writings are pertinent to the ongoing dialogue surrounding women in the Church.<\/p>\n
\tEdith Stein \u2013 also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross \u2013 \u201chas already had a part in the inspiration of the documents of John Paul II \u2018Mulieris Dignitatem\u2019 and \u2018Familiaris Consortio,\u2019\u201d he noted, adding that the saint gives us \u201cvery important\u201d insights about women, specifically in the context of pregnancy, which can aid in the development of a deeper theology of women.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHowever, Buttiglione highlighted how \u201cthere is an archetypical experience for what it means to be a person,\u201d stressing that \u201ca 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAn important concept of Stein\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cA large part of the discussion in the last centuries in the Church has been the Church and modernity,\u201d he noted, stating that \u201cclassical philosophy begins with being,\u201d while \u201cmodern philosophy begins with the subject, the ego, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNow 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,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe abstract subject is a man who has no sex. While the real human being is either male or female.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe transcendental ego,\u201d Buttiglione emphasized, has no connections, while \u201cthe 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.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cEdith Stein,\u201d stressed Buttiglione, \u201cgives 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tNoting how many believe \u201cthat the modern age is exhausted,\u201d the philosopher states that \u201cnow we can revive the values of modernity\u2026if 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRocco 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.<\/p>\n
\tHaving originally met John Paul II when he was still a cardinal after publishing a book on the pontiff\u2019s personal philosophy, Buttliglione reflected that the late Holy Father \u201cwas really a friend of everybody,\u201d and that those who were close to him \u201call felt deeply united.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWhen asked how it feels to have a friend who will be canonized, Buttiglione jested that \u201cI hope that when the time comes he will say a good word on my behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
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