Sure Way : Following Truth in a World on Fire

A rising feminist thinker, Edith Stein examined everything in her relentless pursuit of truth. This ultimately led her to the foot of Jesus’ cross and to taking the veil as a Carmelite nun. Though she renounced fame for a hidden life of prayer and service, history would not pass her by. Because of her Jewish heritage, her life ended in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Yet she will be remembered for all time as a saint, martyr, and trustworthy spiritual guide, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

This collection introduces Edith Stein to a new generation, inviting the reader to walk with her on the way that leads to joy, peace, and assurance even in times that test the soul. The selections bring together her most essential writings – reflections, letters, prayers, poems, advice, and spiritual meditations – offering a window into a soul whose love for Jesus gave her life a firm direction from which she never wavered. Whether used for group study or quiet personal reflection, this little book will encourage anyone seeking to follow God in a complicated world.

Plough Spiritual Guides: Discover time-tested, life-changing wisdom from spiritual masters in these compact, portable books that can be absorbed at one sitting and revisited often.

Edith Stein (1891–1942) was born into an observant Jewish family. She became an atheist as a teenager, but at the age of thirty encountered the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Ávila, converted to Catholicism, and took vows as a Carmelite nun. Because of her Jewish ancestry she was executed at Auschwitz by the Nazis in August 1942. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

Carolyn Beard is a minister and PhD candidate in religion at the University of Toronto. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Divinity School, her research on Edith Stein’s political resistance has been published in Sojourners, The German Diplomat, and Edith Stein Jahrbuch.