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The Ratzinger Reader: Mapping a Theological Journey
A fascinating and insightful volume collecting together the key writings of Joseph Ratzinger, some of them yet untranslated, from his youthful and more progressive writings, to his 'transition period' following his disillusionment with the aftermath of Vatican II, to his time as Prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith down to 2005. The emphasis will be upon Joseph Ratzinger as 'private theologian', his many writings released in a personal capacity for such will chart the formation of and comment upon the official statements and texts released under his name in a more informative fashion than the simple inclusion of the formulaic 'official texts' themselves.
Following a section providing insight into the fundamental and systematic theological background and development of Joseph Ratzinger's thought, further thematic sections will also be included, for example, Joseph Ratzinger's writings on Ecclesiology, on Theology and the Role of Theologians, on the Eucharist, on Religious Pluralism, on Sacramental Theology, Ecumenism, on Truth, on the Contemporary Historical Era, on Magisterium and on Faith Morals etc.
The volume will open with an introductory essay charting the life and career, the achievements of and the controversies surrounding the new pope. Each reading will be prefaced by a brief introduction to its context and themes and will be followed by recommended further reading on its respective subject matter.
Following a section providing insight into the fundamental and systematic theological background and development of Joseph Ratzinger's thought, further thematic sections will also be included, for example, Joseph Ratzinger's writings on Ecclesiology, on Theology and the Role of Theologians, on the Eucharist, on Religious Pluralism, on Sacramental Theology, Ecumenism, on Truth, on the Contemporary Historical Era, on Magisterium and on Faith Morals etc.
The volume will open with an introductory essay charting the life and career, the achievements of and the controversies surrounding the new pope. Each reading will be prefaced by a brief introduction to its context and themes and will be followed by recommended further reading on its respective subject matter.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 8, 2008
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July 29, 2021
As a theologian Joseph Ratzinger has had an enormous impact upon Catholic thought. Arguably the theologian may even have had a greater impact than he has had as pope Benedict XVI.
This is a very useful summary of extracts of his writings, albeit limited to those before the book’s publication date of 2008. Even so, it is a thoughtful selection which illustrates major themes in Ratzinger’s thought.
Firstly he rejects the liberalism (or Modernism) which would reinterpret Christianity according to the spirit of the age. In one extract we see him arguing that liberals are essentially ‘dishonest’ when they reject the historicity of the Resurrection and yet still somehow insist that they hold the same creed. They are ‘reinterpreting’ Christianity to make it more relevant to the modern age but, as he writes: “let us be quite plain about it: an interpreted Christianity of this kind… implies a lack of sincerity in dealing with the questions of the non-Christian (p.32).
Secondly he is strongly opposed to the subjectivism of modern philosophies and religions which essentially reduce them all to ‘inner’ mystical experiences. This equates and merges all religions into a pluralistic world-faith attempt to articulate the inexpressible. One of the problems with this is that it destroys the uniqueness of Jesus. He becomes a (mere) man who has a vivid consciousness of God, and who is struggling against the cultic and religious limitations of his time in a quest for an ethics of personal freedom. “Such a Jesus… repudiates cultic worship (and) transforms religion into morality” (p.89). But this is not the faith of Catholicism, so once again Ratzinger critiques the dishonesty in mis-representing it in this way.
A third strand in Ratzinger’s thought is the rejection of a traditionalism (or Anti-Modernism) which refuses to engage with the Science, Philosophy and Historical Studies of Modernity. Here his position is more nuanced. Traditionalists are in error because they fall into a subjectivism of their own, in judging the contemporary church to be in error. But this doesn’t mean that everything they say is wrong. Christians do not have to choose between Liberalism and Traditionalism, or between Progressives and Conservatives. Authentic Catholicism is found between the extremes (p.96).
An example of this non-extremism is Ratzinger’s views on Latin and the traditional Liturgy. As a young theologian in the 1960s he argued that praying in Latin could be alienating and so more vernacular should be used (p.228). But 40 years later he was arguing to retain aspects of traditional Latin liturgy, as a bulwark against the ‘spirit of the age.’
One of the omissions from the book is Ratzinger’s thought on the issues of contemporary scandals. He has spoken and written on issues such as clerical Sexual Abuse and financial scandals. But there are no extracts in this book, on those topics.
The closest we come is a reflection on how the Church can seem at times to be an obstacle to faith “humiliated by a history from which no scandal is absent” (p99). But we do not hear Ratzinger’s thoughts on the causes and remedies for contemporary scandals. This is a particularly disappointing lacuna as he is a person who has held senior office during the era of some of the scandals. His views on these issues are therefore significant and important.
Overall this is a good summary of Ratzinger’s thought, but only on the topics which it actually covers.
This is a very useful summary of extracts of his writings, albeit limited to those before the book’s publication date of 2008. Even so, it is a thoughtful selection which illustrates major themes in Ratzinger’s thought.
Firstly he rejects the liberalism (or Modernism) which would reinterpret Christianity according to the spirit of the age. In one extract we see him arguing that liberals are essentially ‘dishonest’ when they reject the historicity of the Resurrection and yet still somehow insist that they hold the same creed. They are ‘reinterpreting’ Christianity to make it more relevant to the modern age but, as he writes: “let us be quite plain about it: an interpreted Christianity of this kind… implies a lack of sincerity in dealing with the questions of the non-Christian (p.32).
Secondly he is strongly opposed to the subjectivism of modern philosophies and religions which essentially reduce them all to ‘inner’ mystical experiences. This equates and merges all religions into a pluralistic world-faith attempt to articulate the inexpressible. One of the problems with this is that it destroys the uniqueness of Jesus. He becomes a (mere) man who has a vivid consciousness of God, and who is struggling against the cultic and religious limitations of his time in a quest for an ethics of personal freedom. “Such a Jesus… repudiates cultic worship (and) transforms religion into morality” (p.89). But this is not the faith of Catholicism, so once again Ratzinger critiques the dishonesty in mis-representing it in this way.
A third strand in Ratzinger’s thought is the rejection of a traditionalism (or Anti-Modernism) which refuses to engage with the Science, Philosophy and Historical Studies of Modernity. Here his position is more nuanced. Traditionalists are in error because they fall into a subjectivism of their own, in judging the contemporary church to be in error. But this doesn’t mean that everything they say is wrong. Christians do not have to choose between Liberalism and Traditionalism, or between Progressives and Conservatives. Authentic Catholicism is found between the extremes (p.96).
An example of this non-extremism is Ratzinger’s views on Latin and the traditional Liturgy. As a young theologian in the 1960s he argued that praying in Latin could be alienating and so more vernacular should be used (p.228). But 40 years later he was arguing to retain aspects of traditional Latin liturgy, as a bulwark against the ‘spirit of the age.’
One of the omissions from the book is Ratzinger’s thought on the issues of contemporary scandals. He has spoken and written on issues such as clerical Sexual Abuse and financial scandals. But there are no extracts in this book, on those topics.
The closest we come is a reflection on how the Church can seem at times to be an obstacle to faith “humiliated by a history from which no scandal is absent” (p99). But we do not hear Ratzinger’s thoughts on the causes and remedies for contemporary scandals. This is a particularly disappointing lacuna as he is a person who has held senior office during the era of some of the scandals. His views on these issues are therefore significant and important.
Overall this is a good summary of Ratzinger’s thought, but only on the topics which it actually covers.
June 15, 2013
Quote from: StCeciliasGirl
The Ratzinger Reader: Mapping a Theological JourneyHat tip to StCeciliasGirl for mentioning this excellent book (see her quote from it pertaining to Ratzinger and the liturgy), not that the "theology" expressed therein is traditional, but that it really shows Ratzinger was (is?) a Modernist:
Quote from: Ratzinger (p. 262)
‘Ecumenical’ and ‘Catholic’ in their very etymology say the same thing. Therefore, to be a Catholic is not to become entangled in separatism, but to be open to the fullness of Christianity.Wow, so, viz., Catholicism isn't the fullness of Christianity‽
Quote from: Ratzinger
He concludes this section on how John XXIII accepted the "positive" schema that would become Dei Verbum over the "negative" one:
It was precisely this attitude which the fathers had to assert against the proposed text ["Schema Constitutionis Dogmaticae de Fontibus Revelationis" of the preparatory commission, which was rejected by a simple majority on Nov. 20, 1962, and replaced with a text that would become Dei Verbum]. The texts almost exclusively relied upon the Latin theology of the last hundred years in continuation of the fight against Modernism, and in so doing, these texts were obviously threatened by a narrowness in which the wide scope of Catholicism could scarcely be detected.Wow, this is the hardest attack on scholasticism i've seen him ever give. Essentially, he's saying scholasticism (= Thomism; cf. Pascendi §45: "let it be clearly understood above all things that the scholastic philosophy We prescribe is that which the Angelic Doctor has bequeathed to us") isn't Catholic.
He concludes this section on how John XXIII accepted the "positive" schema that would become Dei Verbum over the "negative" one:
Quote from: Ratzinger
It was a turning point, too, in the sense that, in contrast to Trent and Vatican Council I, the pope had rejected curial dominance and sided with the Council.This section (pp. 259 ff.) makes it so obvious that John XXIII forged a new, "non-anti-Modernist" way. It also is the most interesting ∵ he discusses Pascendi, Pius IX's Syllabus, Humani Generis, and St. Pius X's Oath Against Modernism:
Quote from: Ratzinger
This same [anti-Modernist] anxiety persisted until its last reverberation sounded in the encyclical Humani generis of Pius XII. This document pursued once more the line of thought of Pius IX and Pius X. The schemata of the theological commission, the first of which now lay before the fathers for consideration, breathed this same spirit.
Quote from: Ratzinger
The same cramped thinking, once so necessary as a line of defence, impregnated the text and informed it with a theology of negations and prohibitions; although in themselves they might well have been valid, they certainly could not produce that positive note which was now to be expected from the Council."in themselves they might well have been valid"? He doubts a Magisterial document‽ And "cramped thinking"‽
Quote from: Ratzinger
‘Pastoral’ should not mean something vague and imprecise, but rather something free from wrangling, and free also from entanglement in questions that concern scholars alone.He's speaking of Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange and other Thomists, obviously. Apparently, the contents of St. Thomas's Summa "concern[s ] scholars alone"? Pascendi completely refutes this:
Quote from: Pascendi
For amongst the chief points of their [the Modernists'] teaching is this which they deduce from the principle of vital immanence [related to the redefinition of truth as "conformitas mentis et vitae"]; that religious formulas, to be really religious and not merely theological speculations, ought to be living and to live the life of the religious sentiment.Pp. 57 ff., his conception of salvation, is an excellent example of the Modernists' doctrine described by the above-quoted passage of Pascendi:
Quote from: Ratzinger
Also, it's as if he hasn't even read Trent or Vatican I. Both are not mostly "written in a spirit of condemnation and negation", as Ratzinger says. They're both pretty balanced; they both have sections with anathema sits (the canons) and positive ones in prose (the chapters).
There's a section of Ratzinger Reader (pp. 131 ff.) where he extols the Enlightenment's worship of reason, just like we worship Logos, yet he doesn't mention the manifold errors of the Enlightenment: denial of original sin, naturalism, hatred of faith (since supposedly it contradicts reason), atheism, etc. His attack on relativism and pluralism (pp. 134 ff.) is very weak; he essentially sees relativism as a way to be ecumenical with the relativist/pluralist/pantheist sects, like those in India.
Ratzinger Reader has other sections on whether there's a "Ratzinger I" and a "Ratzinger II" (pp. 11 ff.), on the Magisterium and the bishops' relation to the pope (pp. 187 ff.), on extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (pp. 154 ff.), and on subsistit in (pp. 108-12). He says:
it might have seemed like an escape to seek to simply explain redemption using the traditional vocabulary of theology, which was certainly once a verbal and conceptual expression of religious experience, but which today no longer reveals these experiences, so that its words have become, for a start, doctrinal formulae that must first be reopened to the experiences that they contain(cf. Bp. Tissier's "Faith Imperiled by Reason: Benedict XVI's Hermeneutics")
Also, it's as if he hasn't even read Trent or Vatican I. Both are not mostly "written in a spirit of condemnation and negation", as Ratzinger says. They're both pretty balanced; they both have sections with anathema sits (the canons) and positive ones in prose (the chapters).
There's a section of Ratzinger Reader (pp. 131 ff.) where he extols the Enlightenment's worship of reason, just like we worship Logos, yet he doesn't mention the manifold errors of the Enlightenment: denial of original sin, naturalism, hatred of faith (since supposedly it contradicts reason), atheism, etc. His attack on relativism and pluralism (pp. 134 ff.) is very weak; he essentially sees relativism as a way to be ecumenical with the relativist/pluralist/pantheist sects, like those in India.
Ratzinger Reader has other sections on whether there's a "Ratzinger I" and a "Ratzinger II" (pp. 11 ff.), on the Magisterium and the bishops' relation to the pope (pp. 187 ff.), on extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (pp. 154 ff.), and on subsistit in (pp. 108-12). He says:
Quote from: Ratzinger
the idea that the subsistit could be multiplied fails to grasp precisely the notion that is being intended. With the word subsistit, the Council wished to explain the unicity of the Catholic Church and the fact of her inability to be multipliedYet he continues:
Quote from: Ratzinger
Although the Church is only one and ‘subsists’ in a unique subject, there are also ecclesial realities beyond this subject – true local Churches and different ecclesial communities."true local Churches", as if the Catholic Church is "multiplied" and exists outside Herself?
Quote from: Ratzinger
the existence of an ecclesial reality beyond the one subject, reflects the contradictory nature of human sin and divisionSo, sin is in the Church Herself, not just in the individual members that comprise Her? The Church isn't one and holy‽
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