In the wake of World War I when neither Jews nor women were widely accepted in academia, Edith Stein rose to prominence as a leading philosopher who thrived in the intellectual community in Germany. She shocked both her Jewish family and her academic friends when she fell in love with Jesus Christ and became a Roman Catholic

More shocking still, eleven years later, Edith entered the cloistered Carmelite order to follow a life of mystic and contemplative prayer, changing her name to Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Edith Stein's surrender to grace is all the more visible because of the dark night that enveloped the period of history in which she lived and died -- when millions of men and women, including Edith Stein herself, were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime in the name of diligent ethnic cleansing.

Today, as the meaning of feminism is lost in a world of relativism, Edith Stein provides a model for a true feminist woman who authentically integrates faith,

Ruiz Scaperlanda, Maria

Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda is a Christian writer and journalist. She was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and grew up in Puerto Rico. She has an M.A. in English from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelors in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. A freelance writer since 1981, she is the author of several books and has been published regularly in numerous national and regional periodicals and newspapers, including The New York Times, Catholic Digest, U.S. Catholic, Our Sunday Visitor, The Oklahoman, 'Columbia," 'St. Anthony Messenger and The Lutheran. She and her husband Michael live in Norman, Oklahoma. They have four adult children. She blogs at Day by Day with María.