Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi (莊子) or Chuang Tzu (Chinese Taoist philosopher, c. 4th century B.C., Waring States Period). Author of the seven "inner chapters" of the text Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi’s teaching that there is no neutral ground from which to adjudicate judgements between opposing positions makes his philosophy something of a precursor to relativism.

Edith Stein

(German philosopher, Carmelite nun, martyr, and saint of the Catholic Church, 1891–1942). Stein studied under two of the great minds of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl and Max Scheler. In 1922 she converted to Christianity, eventually becoming a Carmelite nun. This failed to shield her from Nazi persecution, however, and she died in Auschwitz in 1942. She was canonized as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross by Pope John Paul II (who, interestingly, wrote his doctoral thesis on the phenomenological work of Max Scheler). Perhaps her major philosophical work is Finite and Eternal Being: An Attempt to an Ascent to the Meaning of Being, which attempts a synthesis of phenomenology and the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Martin Luther

(German theologian and leader of the Protestant reformation, 1483–1546). Martin Luther was an Augustinian friar from Saxony, schooled in philosophy and biblical languages. The texts that express Luther's dissatisfaction with Catholic doctrine are the 95 Theses, Appeal to the Nobility, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of a Christian Man, all of which prompted his excommunication by the Pope. Luther proclaimed justification by faith alone and the priesthood of all believers, unmediated by the Church. His translation of the Bible into German helped to shape the German language and had an influence on the English authors of the King James Bible.

Jacques Maritain

(French Catholic philosopher, 1882–1973). In a state of metaphysical despair over the spiritual vacuum at the heart of French intellectual life, dominated as it was at the time by scientism, the young Maritain entered a suicide pact with his fiancée. It was Henri Bergson's vitalistic philosophy and critique of positivism that injected sufficient meaning into the lives of the couple for them to abandon their contract before it matured. Maritain went on to become one of the central figures of Neo-Thomism. His innovative interpretation of Aquinas's philosophy formed a central plank in the defence of Catholic doctrine against modernist attackers. Maritain also wrote on aesthetics (e.g. Art and Scholasticism, 1920), epistemology, metaphysics and theology (Distinguish to Unite: or, The Degrees of Knowledge, 1932), and political philosophy (Man and the State, 1961). He was also instrumental in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Karl Rahner

(German theologian, 1904–1984). Rahner's theology influenced the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) and is now central for modern Catholicism. He is the author of Foundations of Christian Faith.

Max Scheler

(German phenomenologist, social philosopher, and sociologist of knowledge). Scheler was born in Munich, studied in Jena, and came into contact with phenomenology upon his return to Munich in 1907. He was acquainted with both Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, though he was not altogether uncritical of their work. Upon his conversion to Catholicism after World War I, he began phenomenological analyses of religious phenomena and feelings, and later turned his attention to anthropology and natural science. At the core of Scheler’s philosophy is his theory of the essential and objective, though non-Platonic, nature of values.

Julian of Norwich

(English Christian theologian and mystic, c. 1342–c. 1416). Considered one of the greatest English mystics and adored by the Catholic and Reformed churches alike, Julian wrote in-depth theoretical accounts of sixteen visions she experienced toward the end of a severe, almost fatal illness. The Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1393) is believed to be the first book written by a woman in the English language. Julian's theology is discordantly optimistic for her time; her language references metaphors of domesticity and motherhood in describing a God who is universally loving and compassionate rather than punitive.