Soul Power:

Carmelite Spirituality & the Interior Life

The 40th Annual Philosophy/Theology Symposium
Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 7:00 PM
“The Spiritual Investigation of Human Nature”

Donald L. Wallenfang, O.C.D.S., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Theology
Walsh University
North Canton, Ohio, U.S.A.
dwallenfang@walsh.edu

I. The Problem

“…the amazing feat which the

psychology of the nineteenth
century performed when it simply
discarded the concept of the
soul” (Finite and Eternal Being, 19).

II. The Soul as the Form of the Body

“The being of human beings [menschliche Sein] is a composite of body, soul, and spirit. Insofar as
human beings – according to their essence – are spirit, their ‘spiritual life’ is an outgoing life that
enters into a world which discloses itself to them, while they yet retain a firm hold on their own
selves. They not only ‘breathe’ out their essence in a spiritual manner – as does every actual formal
structure – unconsciously revealing themselves, but they are, in addition, active in a personal
spiritual manner. The human soul as spirit rises in its spiritual life beyond itself. But the human
spirit is conditioned both from above and from below. It is immersed in a material structure which it
be-souls and molds into a bodily form. The human person carries and encloses ‘its’ body and ‘its’
soul, but it is at the same time carried and enclosed by both” (Finite and Eternal Being, 363-364).
III. The Soul as the Inner Life of the Person

“The soul as a spirit is positioned in a realm of

the Spirit and of spirits. She, however, possesses
her own structure. She is more than a simple
form that animates the body, more than the
interior of an exterior. Rather, within her there lies
an opposition between internal and external”
(The Science of the Cross, 153).

IV. The Soul as the Substantial Image of God the Father


“To the Father – the
primordial creator – from
whom everything derives its
existence but who himself
exists only by and through his
own self, would then
correspond the being of the
soul, while to the Son – the
“born-out” essential form –
would correspond all bodily
being. And the free and
selfless streaming forth (of
the Holy Spirit) would have
its counterpart in the activity
of the spirit, which merits the
name spirit [Geist] in a special
sense. We might then see a
triune unfolding of being in
the entire realm of reality”
(Finite and Eternal Being, 361).

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V. The Soul as a Spiritual Vessel (vas spirituale)

“The innermost being of the

soul is like a vessel into which
flows the spirit of God (i.e.,
the life of grace) if the soul by
virtue of its freedom opens
itself to this vital influx”
(Finite and Eternal Being, 445).

“For Love, as we know, is in the last

analysis and in its ultimate meaning a
surrender of one’s being and union
with the beloved. Therefore, the one
who does God’s will learns to know the
divine spirit, the divine life, and the
divine love, i.e., that person learns to
know God himself. For by doing what
God demands of us with total
surrender of our innermost being, we
cause the divine life to become our
own inner life. Entering into
ourselves, we find God in our own
selves” (Finite and Eternal Being, 447).

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 VI. Afterlife of the Soul and Union with God

“…the being of the spiritual soul is detachable from all sensuality and
corporeality. We are able to conceive of an “inner life” of the soul that
persists even in separation from the body and after the cessation of all
sense impressions. In this manner we envisage the life of the soul after
death and prior to the resurrection of the body. And in this manner the
soul lives – according to the testimony of the mystics – in those ecstatic
states in which the soul is enraptured [entrückt], in which the senses are
non-receptive to any external impressions and the body in death-like
rigidity, while the spirit acquires in contemplation its greatest vitality and
attains to the plentitude of being” (Finite and Eternal Being, 441).

VII. The Logic of the Cross and the Soul

“There is a vocation to suffer

with Christ and thereby to
cooperate with him in his
work of salvation. When we
are united with the Lord, we
are members of the mystical
body of Christ: Christ lives
on in his members and
continues to suffer in them.
And the suffering borne in
union with the Lord is his
suffering, incorporated in the
great work of salvation and
fruitful therein. That is a
fundamental premise of all
religious life, above all of
the life of Carmel, to stand
proxy for sinners through
voluntary and joyous
suffering, and to cooperate in
the salvation of humankind”
(Self-Portrait in Letters,
128).

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Works Cited:

Edith Stein, Finite and Eternal Being: An Attempt at an Ascent to the Meaning of Being, trans. Kurt F.
Reinhardt (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 2002).

Edith Stein, The Science of the Cross, trans. Josephine Koeppel (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications,
2002).

Edith Stein, Self-Portrait in Letters: 1916-1942, trans. Josephine Koeppel (Washington, D.C.: ICS
Publications, 1993).

Notes