Theology of Joseph Ratzinger

The question of religion in the public sphere is an important issue in many Western countries today that is characterised by disintegration of Christian hegemony (secularization), and by the emergence of religious diversity. The starting point for the
discussion in this paper is the new relations between Church and State in Norway, i.e. how the connection between them is considerably weakened in the Norwegian Constitution at the same time as other religions and Christian denominations than
Lutheran Christianity are becoming more visible in the public sphere. The new Constitutional wording is a result of a search for possible common values across religious affiliations in a post-Lutheran state.I argue, with references to important strands of thought in the discourse of religion and secularism,for the importance of having a unifying values base and a key strategy for future social integration in today’s societies, where religious minorities including the Catholic Church are recognized and supported.

This paper deals with the relation between God and the secular legal systems of Western liberal democracies. It provides a normative argument for the compatibility of God and secular legal reasoning. In our age, in which believing in God is no longer socially axiomatic and the right to religious freedom protects all kinds of theistic and non-theistic religious beliefs, creeds, and first philosophies, it seems contrary to religious neutrality for secular legal systems to single out God. This paper instead argues that, although God and religion are inextricably intertwined, they affect the legal system in different ways because they are ontologically different. God cannot be reduced to a mere component of theistic religion. This paper argues that a proper understanding of secularization might call for keeping God outside the legal system but not for driving God out of the public sphere of democratic societies. Secular legal systems are not atheist legal systems. Secular legal systems are legal systems 'without religion' but not 'without God.' Secularization implies some degree of minimal recognition of God as a metalegal concept. The specific degree of recognition of God appropriate for any given political community depends on its cultural and communitarian identity and should be subject to the rules of democratic procedures and majorities. This is the metalegal God.

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the symposium, "Joseph Ratzinger and the Healing of the Reformation-Era Divisions," held at Mundelein Seminary, IL, Oct 19-21 2017. This is an expanded version of the paper that tries to do a number of things. First, I propose that one fruitful lens through which to view the Protestant-Catholic divide concerning the Eucharist and sacrifice is this: the attenuating view of Christianity as a ritual, cultic religion. Second, I suggest that this loss in most of Protestantism is related to the rather lopsided emphasis in the medieval Latin West on the following topics: the objective character of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, the means by which that change takes place, what Christians receive in the Sacrament, and the sacrificial character of the Eucharist. I will attempt to demonstrate this thesis with just one clear example: the English Prayer Book tradition. 
The paper proceeds in the following way. First, I will say something about this lopsided emphasis by walking through Thomas’s treatise in the Summa. Second, I will describe the emergence of the English reformation theology on the Eucharist as expressed in the first two prayer books of 1549 and 1552. Third, I will describe the emergence of (what I will call with a wink) the “reform of the reform” which comes to fruition in the Scottish tradition. I will conclude with a brief consideration of Ratzigner’s contribution to the question of eucharistic sacrifice in Spirit of the Liturgy and the possible subsequent emergence of a unified Anglican approach to eucharistic sacrifice and rapprochement with the Catholic Church.

Resumen: En este artículo ofrezco una reflexión para iluminar la cuestión del sentido de la vida a partir del pensamiento de Joseph Ratzinger. Para el teólogo alemán, el hombre solo puede hallarle sentido a su vida en la verdad. Mi intención es mostrar que el logocentrismo del autor ofrece la base metafísica más adecuada para articular la relación que existe entre el sentido y la verdad. Analizando cada uno de los cuatro sentidos de «sentido» que identifica el filósofo canadiense Jean Grondin, muestro que la fe cristiana, tal como la entiende Ratzinger, es una oferta de sentido muy completa.

Abstract: This article is a reflection that sheds light on the question about the meaning of life in the perspective of Joseph Ratzinger. For the German theologian, man can only find meaning in his life in the truth. My intention is to demonstrate that the author’s logocentrism offers the most adequate metaphysical foundation in order to emphasize the relationship that exists between meaning and truth. Analyzing each of the four senses of «meaning» identified by the Canadian philosopher Jean Grondin, I demonstrate that the Christian faith, as understood by Ratzinger, offers a very complete sense.

Romano Guardini was highly valued by Joseph Ratzinger as a lecturer and author of inspiring books. They shared the zealous pursuit for truth, the courage to ask fundamental questions, the boldness to confront the Christian faith with the challenges of contemporary culture, the conviction that the human mind has high cognitive capacities, and the emphasis on the primate of truth in theology. Both authors highlight the reasonable aspect of the Christian faith. After all, faith relies on the fact that God is Truth. Faith and reason are not contradictory. They can complement one another in the process of in-depth cognition. Naturally, as the human mind tries to understand God, it struggles with its own limitations in the face of the mystery which exceeds the capacities of the creation.

Questo studio dimostra che la teologia del battesimo di Ratzinger è nel quadro di una prospettiva storica e cosmologica sulla liturgia. Storicamente, il battesimo non può essere compreso se non riusciamo a vedere e comprendere la sua ombra nell’An- tico Testamento dove ha la sua «origine». Allo stesso tempo, il battesimo contempo- raneo indica il presente di Cristo nella liturgia della Chiesa. Il battesimo è più di un semplice rituale cristiano che avvia uno nella religione del cristianesimo; ha luogo nella creazione e usa contemporanei creati della morte e della risurrezione storica di Cristo. Infine, l’indicazione della partecipazione del credente all’opera di Cristo me- diante il Battesimo prescrive l’imperativo della nuova vita.


This study demonstrates that Ratzinger’s theology of Baptism is situated in the framework of a historical and cosmological perspective on the Liturgy. Historically, Baptism cannot be truly understood if we fail to see and comprehend its shadow in the Old Testament where it has its «origin». At the same time, contemporary Baptism points as image to the reality of the crucified and resurrected Christ present in the Liturgy of the Church. Baptism is more than just a Christian ritual that initiates one into the religion of Christianity; it takes place in creation and uses created matter so as to make us contemporaries of Christ’s historical death and resurrection. Finally, the in- dicative of the believer’s participation in Christ’s work by way of Baptism prescribes the imperative of the new life.

The article examines the question of the Mariological interpretation of the eight beatitudes contained in Mt 5:3-10. Christian theologians of all ages, from Clement of Alexandria to the authors of contemporary biblical commentaries, have proposed various interpretations of this biblical text. Among the multitude of interpretations developed throughout history, the Mariological aspect appears quite rarely. Yet, as Pope Benedict XVI observes, the very biblical Marian title “Blessed” should direct the theological thought to the Mariological aspects of this issue. In modern times, a very deep reflection on the subject was conducted by two great theologians of the XX century, J. Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) and H.U. von Balthasar. On the Polish ground, the task was partly undertaken by J. Tischner, who elaborated the theme of eight beatitudes in the key of the Marian pilgrimage of the nation. The present work is meant to deepen the Mariological-biblical analysis of the eight beatitudes and revive the discussion regarding this subject in the perspective proposed by Benedict XVI, to understand the beatitudes as a program of life for a modern Christian.

Il nome di J. Ratzinger, come teologo prima, come prefetto della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede poi e, infine, da papa, è strettamente legato al Concilio Vaticano II. L'articolo propone una panoramica storica degli interventi di Ratzinger negli anni conciliari e una lettura sintetica del suo apporto in ambito ecclesiologico.

Ratzinger has been sometimes criticized for his lack of attention to the doctrine on creation in his early years as theologian. The discovery of a manuscript containing the notes of a course on the doctrine on creation, given by Joseph Ratzinger in 1964 in Münster, leads to modify such an opinion. Exactly fifty years after its writing, we offer in this study (as a first step of a larger research) a general description of these notes. K E Y W O R D S Joseph Ratzinger, doctrine on creation, anthropological turn, Münster, contemporary German theology, ecumenical dialogue, theology and philosophy.

Pubblicata come «La Figlia di Sion di Joseph Ratzinger», Anthropotes 35 (2019) 713-721.
Nella primavera di 1975, nella bella Austria (a Puchlberg, vicino a Linz), l'allora professor Ratzinger tenne tre conferenze su Maria − sviluppate in un modo unitario − sui tre dogmi mariani. Furono pubblicate succes-sivamente con il titolo La figlia di Sion 1 e, nel prologo del 1977, l'ormai vescovo di Monaco e Frisinga ringraziava Hans Urs von Balthasar per il suo lavoro di edizione e correzione del testo 2. Come risulta logico, inizia dalla teologia biblica per spiegare che la figura di Maria non viene d'una trasposizione dei miti egiziani e nemmeno della grande madre Diana di Efeso. Non è una nuova versione delle devozioni e anzi superstizioni pagane. Infatti, se non fosse vera-aggiunge Ratzinger-quella abitudine rimarrebbe senza senso e scomparirebbe nel vuoto. Quindi la ragione e la rivelazione cristiana hanno l'ultima parola. Già nell'antico testamento, il culto di Israele rifiuta sia la superstizione sia l'idolatria. Purtroppo nel culto d'Israele le donne rimanevano ancora nel vestibolo del tempio; però allo stesso tempo c'erano anche le figure di Sara e soprattutto Anna, madre di Samuele, e "tutta la teologia della figlia di Sion". Nel vangelo di Giovanni, è usata anche la figura di Eva, la donna in genere, per spie-gare chi fu e cosa significa veramente Maria 3 .

Trad. de Dan Siserman, Editura Sapientia, Iași, 2019.
Descrierea completă a cărți și comandarea ei: http://librariasapientia.ro/teologia-istoriei-la-sfantul-bonaventura.html

Preocuparea pentru teologia şi filosofia istoriei apare, înainte de toate, în timpurile de criză ale istoriei umane. Astfel, prima mare teologie creştină a istoriei, De civitate Dei contra paganos a sfântului Augustin de Hippona, a emers din criza Imperiului Roman. În acea carte, viaţa acelei epoci şi-a găsit o formă ordonată şi aparent definitivă. De atunci, încercarea de a înţelege istoria într-o manieră teologică nu a mai reprezentat niciodată ceva străin pentru teologia occidentală.

De fapt, deja din perspectiva Noului Testament şi a escatologiei sale, istoria devenise fundamental „critică”. Însă, în Evul Mediu de vârf, mai precis în secolul al XIII-lea, această încercare de scrutare a istoriei a atins un nou punct culminant. Motivele acestui lucru ţin, în primul rând, de noul tip de profetism istoric dezvoltat de abatele Gioacchino da Fiore şi, în al doilea rând, de faptul că acest profetism istoric şi-a câştigat forţa inflamatoare prin confirmarea extraordinară care şi-a găsit concreteţea în persoana şi activitatea sfântului Francisc de Assisi. Aceste două elemente s-au răsfrânt într-o profundă interogare a formei medievale a istoriei, din care s-a putut dezvolta o nouă şi amplă teologie a istoriei.

Acest al doilea nou vârf de referinţă al reflecţiei creştine asupra istoriei îl reprezintă Collationes in Hexaemeron a sfântului Bonaventura

This doctoral thesis provides a systematic demonstration and evaluation of Joseph Ratzinger's / Pope Benedict XVI's personal-relational theological thought in its different aspects and through various areas of theology, accompanied by its characteristics in the conclusive part.
The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of the Biblical and historical development of the theological understanding of the human person, which places the theme of the thesis in a specific historical and theological context. It also provides the sources in which Ratzinger finds inspiration for his thought. It further presents the main phases, contents, and representatives of the long and non-homogenous development of the theological understanding of the human person.
The following chapters reconstruct and give a systematic presentation of the personal-relational paradigm of Ratzinger's theology, as it is articulated in various theological areas. The second chapter examines the theological-Trinitarian area, which is the source of Ratzinger's personal-relational thought. It further examines the Old Testament themes of God's name and the Covenant, essential for a relational image of God. Ratzinger considers the Trinity, as the culmination of faith in a personal God who is in a relationship, to be a hermeneutical interpretative tool of the entire reality, and he explains it with the help of the paradigm of communio, or God's “we” – composed of reality and love.
The third chapter is dedicated to Ratzinger's “relational Christology”, at whose heart lies the identicalness of Jesus Christ and Son, i.e. the second divine person, the center of whose person and existence result from a unique and permanent communication with the Father. Ratzinger bases his explanation of Christ's identity and deeds on his unity with the Father; he considers the Cross and Resurrection as the hermeneutic key to their identicalness and perceives Christ as an “exemplary man” and the only starting point for a theological understanding of the man. Given that Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's Christology is based on the Holy Scripture and Christological dogmas, the thesis also includes his critique of the historical-critical method.
The fourth chapter articulates Ratzinger's anthropological application of his personal-relational scheme of thought. It starts off with God's act of creation, which is the foundation of the man's capability of forming relationships with both God and others, and presents the act IV
of faith as the man's answer to the dialogue that God opens through creation and revelation. Further articulation of Ratzinger's thought reveals that the basic existence of the faithful is an ecclesiastical one, through which subjects of faith are transformed into the community of the Church. Ratzinger explains this community (communio) of the Church using various paradigms: eucharistic ecclesiology, the Body of Christ, the Church as a sacrament of unity. Finally, in light of “dialogical immortality”, which has proved to be Ratzinger's central syntagm, which he developed with the intention of rehabilitating the expression of “the immortality of the soul”, this thesis examines Ratzinger's interpretation of eschatological questions.
The final conclusion of the thesis underlines the characteristics of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's personal-relational paradigm. It takes a look at the specificity of Ratzinger's style of thought and demonstrates the theological source of his personal-relational thought and its historical-salvation starting point. It further underlines the particularities and differences in the application of that paradigm of thought on the conception of the man. It goes on to explain the significance and actuality of the communio and love model, while also pointing to their analogic application in various areas of theology. Finally, it evaluates Ratzinger's all-encompassing theological vision.
Three methods have been used in this thesis: the historical-theological method, the method of analysis and synthesis and the critical-evaluative method. Apart from being original, for this particular topic has not been dealt with so far in Croatian, the thesis gives its contribution to a more thorough and systematic understanding of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's theological thought, whose profile and integrity were made visible due to the personal-relational approach used here. In addition to that, the authentic translations provided in the thesis provide an insight into Ratzinger’s works which have not been translated into Croatian. Finally, the thesis offers a systematic overview of the historical-theological development of the perception of the person, which has never been synthetized to such an extent in the Croatian language.

Key words: Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, person, relationship, God, Trinity, Jesus Christ, Son, pro-existence, Holy Spirit, communio, love, man, creation, faith, Church, eucharist, Body of Christ, eschatology, “dialogical immortality”, death, soul, body, resurrection, communio sanctorum.

This essay attempts a sketch of what Neoscholastic thought could be if it were to take seriously both its own past and the challenges of post-modern thought. Arising as a Catholic response to modern rationalism, the Neoscholastic movement embraced the rationalist assumptions of its opponents, practicing what Foucault has termed "reverse discourse." Understood from its historical roots, however, Scholastic thought is open both to a diversity of truths and to the dynamism of history--both crucial aspects of post-modernism. I argue that Joseph Ratzinger's book "The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure" offers the conceptual resources to think the relationship between truth and time in a way that goes beyond traditional Neoscholasticism while remaining perfectly orthodox ("radically orthodox," one might say...).

Los relatos de las apariciones de Jesús resucitado concluyen con la subida del Señor al cielo, testimoniando que verdaderamente está vivo. La liturgia nos invita a conmemorar la fiesta de la Ascensión de Jesús: El Hijo que bajó del cielo vuelve a él. Ahora bien, ¿La Sagrada Escritura busca dar una explicación geográfica local o quiere revelarnos un mensaje conclusivo del camino de Jesús en la tierra? Nos adentraremos en primer lugar al contenido teológico de este acontecimiento desde una perspectiva filial, en segundo lugar a uno de los frutos del mismo en los apóstoles y por último a las consecuencias prácticas para nuestra vida.

This article examines the position of Joseph Ratzinger with regard to the classical question in the field of the theology of religions, the salvation of non-Christians. In criticism of a recent book by Ambrose Mong, it is argued that Ratzinger is not a soteriological exclusivist but an optimistic restrictivist inclusivist. 0 2 B C

Interpreting the Bible, especially the creation narratives, in light of modern science is often presented as a set of unattractive choices: abandon rational consistency for blind faith or abandon faith for rational consistency. In this article, Joseph Ratzinger's theological method is examined as a means of "tinkering" with theological theories of revelation and a scientific worldview, allowing each to influence each other to find a synthesis that can resolve the disjunction between rational consistency and faith.

The posted version represents the page-proofs for the article.

This essay explores, explains and critically evaluates - from a theological perspective - the presentation, portrayal and performance of the conceptulization of love in Nicholas Roeg’s cult-classic-art-house film Walkabout - with specific reference to Terence Kennedy’s book, Doers of the Word, Vol. 2, Ch. 34 and to Pope Benedict XVI’s first papal encyclical Deus Caritas Est. I will use these two works to theologically critique Walkabout’s expression of love.

Joseph Ratzinger y destacados escrituristas (Paul Beauchamp, Bruna Costacurta, Ignace de la Potterie, Klemens Stock, Albert Vanhoye) ofrecen sus clarificadoras reflexiones sobre los fundamentos de la interpretación bíblica.
Todos los cristianos dirigen su mirada hacia la Sagrada Escritura con el deseo de ahondar en su fe y crecer en su vida cristiana. La interpretación bíblica tiene una importancia eclesial de primera magnitud. El cardenal Ratzinger y destacados escrituristas reflexionan en estas páginas sobre los fundamentos de la interpretación bíblica.
Al describir el reto con que se enfrenta la exégesis actual, necesitada de integrar las adquisiciones del método histórico en una hermenéutica adecuada, el Cardenal Ratzinger decía en su conferencia de 1988: “para alcanzar esto será necesario todavía el trabajo de, al menos, toda una generación”. Aun queda mucho por hacer; pero, tal y como nos sugieren las colaboraciones que presentamos en este volumen, el horizonte que se abre ante nosotros nos sitúa más cerca que hace quince años de ese objetivo. Por ello estas palabras, más que una dificultad paralizante, representan un estímulo y un motivo de esperanza.

publicado en: 43. «Mysterium, communio et sacramentum. La ecclesiologia eucaristica di Joseph Ratzinger», Annales theologici 25 (2012/2) 241-270; tr. cast.: «Mysterium, communio et sacramentum. La eclesiología eucarística de Joseph Ratzinger», Anales de teología 14 (2012/2) 279-329.

La eclesiología de Ratzinger es en primer lugar una “eclesiología teológica”, que va de
la Trinidad a la humanidad. La aproximación que propone es la teología de la Iglesia
de los Padres, dotada de una firme fundamentación en la Escritura. Las categorías
de “pueblo de Dios” y “cuerpo de Cristo”, las dimensiones mistérica y sacramental se
fundirán en su eclesiología eucarística de comunión. Esta visión teológico-sacramental
incluye no sólo la Eucaristía y los demás sacramentos, sino también la apostolicidad
continuada en las instancias complementarias del primado y la colegialidad.
Junto a la palabra y los sacramentos, existe también el ministerio como elemento de
unidad. La Iglesia posee sus dimensiones cristológica y pneumatológica, que fundamentan
su respectiva condición sacramental y carismática. Es católica y apostólica,
con los complementarios elementos de Iglesia universal e Iglesias locales. Serán pues
todos estos los elementos constitutivos de la communio.

For Joseph Ratzinger, Romano Guardini was a valued lecturer and an author of inspiring books. Ratzinger finds attractive Guardini's ardent quest for truth, the courage to ask big and important questions, boldness to confront the Christian faith with the challenges of contemporary culture, the conviction of the significant cognitive possibilities of human reason, and the emphasis on the primacy of truth in theology. Both authors point to the reasonableness of the Christian faith, based ultimately on the fact that God Himself is Truth. Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive, but they can support each other through solid cognition. Of course, human reason, when trying to know God, struggles with its own limitations in the face of the mystery which exceeds the capacities of the creation.

In order to better understand the divide which occurred within the “progressive majority” at Vatican II as “Schema XIII” (eventually Gaudium et Spes) was under discussion, this essay considers the contributions and objections of Karl Rahner and Joseph Ratzinger, two of the document’s most salient critics. After offering a brief history of Schema XIII, I demonstrate that both theologians reacted to it with very similar concerns which centered upon the issue of “nature and grace.” However, their proposed remedies for the schema’s shortcomings differed significantly. Unlike other of its critics, Rahner did not call for jettisoning the schema’s “outside-in” methodology, which began on common ground and culminated in the person of Christ, but rather sought to imbue that methodology with robust supernatural orientation. Rahner’s (often-overlooked) complex relationship to Schema XIII and his own vision for an ideal version (which was fulfilled in many, though not all, ways in the promulgated version) offers a particularly helpful way forward as we read Gaudium et Spes today.

There exist very different accounts about the attitude of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI to interreligious dialogue. Does interreligious dialogue aim at theological truth and intertwine with mission, or is it an impossibility that needs to be replaced with an intercultural dialogue about peaceful coexistence and common values? This article traces the complex history and relationship of these views from the 1990s, through the much-misunderstood letter to Marcello Pera in 2008, until Benedict’s retirement. Despite impressions to the contrary, Pope Benedict XVI’s commitment to interreligious dialogue remains firm.