Edith Stein and the Challenge of Phenomenology
for Christian Life Today

Prof. Peter Tyler

This presentation will bring Edith Stein into conversation with a range of scholars and traditions, by unveiling her interdisciplinary nature. It will articulate Stein’s self-named ‘philosophy of life’.

Considered in the context of her own times, the Living Philosophy of Edith Stein unearths Stein’s valuable contributions to numerous subjects that are still of great importance today, including not only the philosophies of mind and religion, but also social and political thought and the role of women in society.

Edith Stein, Saint, Carmelite and Mystic

Fr. Matt Blake, OCD

This presentation will reflect on the person of Edith and her insights into the search for meaning. Meaning that is concealed in God’s plan for humanity. Her sacred story highlights the truth that God is part of human history and he never deserts his people even in the face of difficulties: “I told our Lord that I knew it was His cross that was now being placed upon the Jewish people: that most of them did not understand this, but that those who did would have to take it up willingly in the name of all. I would do that. At the end of the service, I was certain that I had been heard. But what this carrying of the cross was to consist in, that I did not yet know”.

John of the Cross and Lacan: The Dark Night and
Subjective Destitution

Dr. Mark Gerard Murphy

In my presentation, “Desire and Destitution: A Combined Reading of Lacan and John of the Cross,” I offer a novel perspective on Juanist spiritual direction, merging elements of Lacanian psychoanalysis with the mystical theology of John of the Cross. I critically examine contemporary spiritual practices that lean heavily on therapy, advocating instead for a resurgence of a radical conception of desire, transcending the bounds of the ‘affective turn.’ I draw parallels between Lacan’s notion of subjective destitution—his vision of psychoanalysis as distinct from therapy—and John’s concept of the ‘dark night of the soul.’ This approach presents a unique ‘creative unity’ between psychoanalysis and mystical theology, viewed through continental philosophy and theology.

Jean Baruzi’s Analysis of St John of the Cross’ Mystical Way

Wanyoung Kim-Murphy

Wanyoung’s presentation will focus on Jean Baruzi’s analysis of Saint John of the Cross’s Mystical Way, from the stages of the initial negation to the theopathic state where the soul of the spiritual person proceeds through the Night of Sense and the Night of the Spirit and everything that is not God is annihilated. How is true contemplation distinguished from meditation, and what does it mean to negate sensory apperceptions?

A Reason to Hope: Being as Communion in the
Thought of John Zizioulas

Dr. Heather Ward, OCDS

To an increasingly fragmented world which seems torn between the individualism; relativism of post-modernism and the collectivism of populist political movements the thought of John Zizioulas offers a stance outside our dichotomies, a way of moving beyond either-or thinking about the nature of human beings and their life in society. This talk will explore the main lines of Zizioulas’ concept of being as communion so that we might come to a renewed understanding of what it means to say “I am”.

Gabriel Marcel’s Philosophy: A Synthesis of
Catholicism, Existentialism and Personalism

Deacon Tom Berrie

Marcel, 1889 – 1973, was born in Paris to typically French, middle class parents.  Humanity needed a new approach, which addressed and met their actual lives, innermost needs, aspirations and longings, and the growing sense of disconnexion and alienation that life in the modern world produced. Openness to all viewpoints was at the heart of his approach, developing friendships with many important thinkers and giving talks throughout the world arising from them.  Amongst his many influences were Henri Bergson, Martin Buber, and Jacques and Raissa Maritain. 

Philosophy as a Way of Life and Search for Meaning

Tim Burton, OCDS

Tim’s presentation will focus on the way in which his four years’ academic study of philosophy has impacted on his subsequent life and Christian faith. He will suggest that an acquaintance with thinkers alongside, rather than within, the Christian tradition can be both challenging and enriching and that philosophical thinking equips us to encounter ultimate truth – in the spirit of St Therese’s words: ‘il me semble que je n’ai jamais cherché que la vérité’.

 St Teresa’s Four Waters of Prayer

Julienne McLean

This icon of St Teresa’s ‘Interior Castle’, will be present, for reflection and contemplation throughout the evening sessions.  On Friday evening, a beautiful DVD of St Teresa’s Four Waters of Prayer, in Word, Image and Song will be shown. On Saturday evening, we will be able to reflect, together, on our own journey of contemplative prayer, both in sharing and silence. 

Pilgrimage on Edith Stein’s Search for Meaning

Pauline Warner

Her lecture introduces the venues and inspirations for the Tour on Edith’s search for meaning.  She is also a member of the Redditch Carmelite prayer group.