Martyrdom as Perfection of Life in the Christian Tradition and in Edith Stein’s Thinking

Abstract

This article explores the controversial claim that Edith Stein, murdered violently and cruelly in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, was a martyr. In the Christian tradition, martyrdom is described as “perfection.” What does it mean to say that someone who was murdered is a martyr? Is it paradoxical or contradictory to claim that martyrdom is a “perfection” or a completion of life? These are the questions that animate this paper (English quotations of the Bible are from The Bible. Authorized version. The Old and New Testament. King James version. Abbreviations: ANFa = Ante-Nicene Fathers. The writings of the Fathers down to A. D. 325; ApF = The Apostolic Fathers; BKV = Bibliothek der Kirchenväter; CWES = Collected Works of Edith Stein; ESGA = Edith-Stein-Gesamtausgabe; ESW = Edith-Stein-Werke; FC = Fontes Christiani; GCS = Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte; LThK = Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 3rd ed.; TRE=Theologische Realenzyklopädie).