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The God of Jesus Christ: Meditations on the Triune God
Explores the nature of the Trinity, discussing the different attributes of each member of it and how they form a whole.
120 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
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170 people want to read
About the author
Pope Benedict XVI
943 books935 followersOriginally
Joseph Ratzinger
, a noted conservative theologian before his election in 2005, Benedict XVI strove against the influence of secularism during his papacy to defend traditional Catholic teachings but since medieval times first resigned in 2013.
After Joseph Ratzinger served a long career as an academic and a professor at the University of Regensburg, Pope Paul VI appointed him as archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, one most important office of the Roman curia. He also served as dean of the college of cardinals.
Benedict XVI reigned 265th in virtue of his office of bishop of Rome, the sovereign of the state of Vatican City and the head of the Church. A conclave named him on 19 April 2005; he celebrated his inaugural Mass on 24 April 2005 and took possession of his Lateran cathedral basilica of Saint John on 7 May 2005.
Benedict XVI succeeded Saint John Paul II, predecessor and his prolific writings on doctrine and values. Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increase of many developed countries. Relativism denied objective truth and moral truths in particular; he viewed this central problem of the 21st century. With the importance of the Church, he understood redemptive love of God. He reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism" "of many Christians engaged in charitable work." Benedict also revived a number and elevated the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position.
Benedict founded and patronized of the Ratzinger foundation, a charitable organization, which from the sale of books and essays makes money to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Due to advanced age on 11 February 2013, Benedict announced in a speech in Latin and cited a "lack of strength of mind and body" before the cardinals. He effectively left on 28 February 2013.As emeritus, Benedict retained the style of His Holiness, and the title and continued to dress in the color of white. He moved into the newly renovated monastery of Mater Ecclesiae for his retirement. Pope Francis succeeded him on 13 March 2013.
(more info on Ratzinger Foundation: https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology...)
After Joseph Ratzinger served a long career as an academic and a professor at the University of Regensburg, Pope Paul VI appointed him as archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, one most important office of the Roman curia. He also served as dean of the college of cardinals.
Benedict XVI reigned 265th in virtue of his office of bishop of Rome, the sovereign of the state of Vatican City and the head of the Church. A conclave named him on 19 April 2005; he celebrated his inaugural Mass on 24 April 2005 and took possession of his Lateran cathedral basilica of Saint John on 7 May 2005.
Benedict XVI succeeded Saint John Paul II, predecessor and his prolific writings on doctrine and values. Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increase of many developed countries. Relativism denied objective truth and moral truths in particular; he viewed this central problem of the 21st century. With the importance of the Church, he understood redemptive love of God. He reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism" "of many Christians engaged in charitable work." Benedict also revived a number and elevated the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position.
Benedict founded and patronized of the Ratzinger foundation, a charitable organization, which from the sale of books and essays makes money to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Due to advanced age on 11 February 2013, Benedict announced in a speech in Latin and cited a "lack of strength of mind and body" before the cardinals. He effectively left on 28 February 2013.As emeritus, Benedict retained the style of His Holiness, and the title and continued to dress in the color of white. He moved into the newly renovated monastery of Mater Ecclesiae for his retirement. Pope Francis succeeded him on 13 March 2013.
(more info on Ratzinger Foundation: https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology...)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 17, 2018
When I began reading this volume, the preface gave me the sense that these essays were a cross between meditations and sermons, directed toward the everyday life of common Christians and therefore pitched to the level at which thought and practice would intersect (I was buoyed by the introduction which connected Ratsinger to both Henri de Lubac and Romano Guardini and promised just that). In my reading of the various essays, though, what I found was a deep, profound encounter with God, not easily translated into everyday life but directed toward a deepening encounter with the various persons of the Trinity over time. This is more truly what Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) accomplishes in this volume. It takes more time, more thought, and more consideration, but these essays are definitely worth it.
Approach these essays with a pencil in hand, for you are going to want to remember specific formulations of the ideas that Ratzinger has encapsulated here; he really is that brilliant and that accessible. But for those of us who live in everyday life, we need to write down his insights so we can remember them when we need them.
The first section of the book is dedicated to God the Father and focuses on various aspects of the Father, including His name, the Three-Persons-in-One, the meaning of the Creator God, and God answer to Job’s question of why there is suffering in the world. The most moving essays are the first and last ones: in the first we encounter God the Father as a Person, contrasted with the devil, the beast who is represented merely as a number, an entity so far below personhood, but an actor in history that tries to reduce each of us from a person to a number (aided, of course, by the modern world). In this movement, Ratzinger examines the personhood, mystery, presence, incomparability, and constancy of God as far as humanly able in such a short space. Additionally, we move from the appearance of God to Moses as “I am that I am” to the further elaboration of God in Jesus Christ as “I am who saves you”—a movement from pure nature of God to the salvific nature of God.
In exploring Job’s suffering and questioning, Ratzinger is able to touch the mystery of suffering, showing how Job’s “friends” have no sense of the reality of the world and how God’s answer to Job’s entreaty makes the suffering servant see how small he is and how he cannot possibly see the larger picture (but must still imagine and accept it). While he gets no specific answer, Job nonetheless learns through his questioning to live in stillness and hope once he divines what God’s answer means for his predicament. In the end, Ratzinger argues, God listens to Job and will later come down Himself, taking on the suffering of humankind in His acceptance of the cross and transforming that suffering into love. This is most profound of Trinitarian messages.
The section on the second person of the Trinity focuses on a series of phrases from the Nicene Creed that delineate the character and meaning of Jesus. The first essay explores how Christ’s descending from above to below changes the meaning of what is above and what is below and what it means that Christ has embraced that which is below. The next essay examines four areas of Jesus’ life and explores what happens in each area (childhood, Nazareth, public life, and death and Resurrection) in terms of His relationship to the Father. The next two essays look at how Jesus is consubstantial with the Father and the meaning of his arising on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. Both of these take the credal formulations and look at the philosophical meanings they engender. This whole section was by far the richest in terms of its exploration of the Trinitarian relationships and the nature of the three Persons. It deserves time and energy to understand what Ratzinger is contending about the relationship between Father and Son.
As the shortest chapter (because there is not a plethora of biblical references to the third person of the Trinity), the last section examines the nature and function of the Holy Spirit. There are, however, some beautiful insights expressed here. First, Ratzinger shows that the Spirit is what is common to the Father and the Son: He is their Unity. Then Ratzinger shows how the Paraclete (the name is important) is the advocate, defender, and comforter of humankind—the “Yes” that leads to joy, rather than judgment. But perhaps the most profound discussion here is about the nature of the Spirit as the yielding and giving of the self. In the Godhead such giving and yielding is the Spirit Himself. In the human realm, however, giving and yielding of the self leads to the Cross, where one gives completely of oneself into suffering. Thus, for us in the human world, the Cross is where we can find the fruitfulness of the Spirit until we are translated into the supernatural world, where Spirit will lift high and fructify our crosses.
It is always such a pleasure to read the philosophy and theology that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has written through the years. While this volume’s essays were written in 1976, their ideas and explanations of Trinitarian theology are timeless and profound. This volume is a good place to start for anyone who is interested in delving into the relationship among the Persons of the Trinity. True, trying to comprehend the Trinity is like trying to empty the sea into a small hole in the sand; nonetheless, the more we understand of this mystery, the more our participation in the Godhead grows and the more blessed we are.
Approach these essays with a pencil in hand, for you are going to want to remember specific formulations of the ideas that Ratzinger has encapsulated here; he really is that brilliant and that accessible. But for those of us who live in everyday life, we need to write down his insights so we can remember them when we need them.
The first section of the book is dedicated to God the Father and focuses on various aspects of the Father, including His name, the Three-Persons-in-One, the meaning of the Creator God, and God answer to Job’s question of why there is suffering in the world. The most moving essays are the first and last ones: in the first we encounter God the Father as a Person, contrasted with the devil, the beast who is represented merely as a number, an entity so far below personhood, but an actor in history that tries to reduce each of us from a person to a number (aided, of course, by the modern world). In this movement, Ratzinger examines the personhood, mystery, presence, incomparability, and constancy of God as far as humanly able in such a short space. Additionally, we move from the appearance of God to Moses as “I am that I am” to the further elaboration of God in Jesus Christ as “I am who saves you”—a movement from pure nature of God to the salvific nature of God.
In exploring Job’s suffering and questioning, Ratzinger is able to touch the mystery of suffering, showing how Job’s “friends” have no sense of the reality of the world and how God’s answer to Job’s entreaty makes the suffering servant see how small he is and how he cannot possibly see the larger picture (but must still imagine and accept it). While he gets no specific answer, Job nonetheless learns through his questioning to live in stillness and hope once he divines what God’s answer means for his predicament. In the end, Ratzinger argues, God listens to Job and will later come down Himself, taking on the suffering of humankind in His acceptance of the cross and transforming that suffering into love. This is most profound of Trinitarian messages.
The section on the second person of the Trinity focuses on a series of phrases from the Nicene Creed that delineate the character and meaning of Jesus. The first essay explores how Christ’s descending from above to below changes the meaning of what is above and what is below and what it means that Christ has embraced that which is below. The next essay examines four areas of Jesus’ life and explores what happens in each area (childhood, Nazareth, public life, and death and Resurrection) in terms of His relationship to the Father. The next two essays look at how Jesus is consubstantial with the Father and the meaning of his arising on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. Both of these take the credal formulations and look at the philosophical meanings they engender. This whole section was by far the richest in terms of its exploration of the Trinitarian relationships and the nature of the three Persons. It deserves time and energy to understand what Ratzinger is contending about the relationship between Father and Son.
As the shortest chapter (because there is not a plethora of biblical references to the third person of the Trinity), the last section examines the nature and function of the Holy Spirit. There are, however, some beautiful insights expressed here. First, Ratzinger shows that the Spirit is what is common to the Father and the Son: He is their Unity. Then Ratzinger shows how the Paraclete (the name is important) is the advocate, defender, and comforter of humankind—the “Yes” that leads to joy, rather than judgment. But perhaps the most profound discussion here is about the nature of the Spirit as the yielding and giving of the self. In the Godhead such giving and yielding is the Spirit Himself. In the human realm, however, giving and yielding of the self leads to the Cross, where one gives completely of oneself into suffering. Thus, for us in the human world, the Cross is where we can find the fruitfulness of the Spirit until we are translated into the supernatural world, where Spirit will lift high and fructify our crosses.
It is always such a pleasure to read the philosophy and theology that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger has written through the years. While this volume’s essays were written in 1976, their ideas and explanations of Trinitarian theology are timeless and profound. This volume is a good place to start for anyone who is interested in delving into the relationship among the Persons of the Trinity. True, trying to comprehend the Trinity is like trying to empty the sea into a small hole in the sand; nonetheless, the more we understand of this mystery, the more our participation in the Godhead grows and the more blessed we are.
August 26, 2013
Just an incredible, incredible series of meditations by Joseph Ratzinger. His ability to address the questions of modern man and the difficulties with belief in our contemporary world continues to amaze me. The idea that he wasn't a pastor is put to lie when one reads works like this. His ability to be both rooted in the Church and to give a new and fresh reading to the Gospel is unmatched. Do yourself a favor and read this book.
November 26, 2022
It is no surprise that Ratzinger's essays are exceptional and profoundly reflective, but while an adequate number of reflections have been given on the Father and the Son, only one is on the Holy Spirit. This is not to say that it's not good enough, but only that more could have been added, considering that they are only culled out from speeches already given.
February 12, 2019
Enjoyable collection of doctrinally-focused homilies from earlier in Ratzinger’s ministry.
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May 24, 2020Theology is exposed by Ratzinger's book, so we can all reach it, and so simply explained, but with such an inmense sense of rationality.
Loving his writing.
Loving his writing.
February 15, 2023
As always, Ratzinger does not disappoint. Short work, but well worth the read!
February 28, 2024
Absolutely loved this book. My understanding of the Trinity is now more expansive than I could have hoped for. It gave me the momentum I needed to continue to learn more about the beautiful mystery that is the Catholic faith!
August 8, 2013
“Where the rule of law no longer protects human life, it is questionable whether it deserves the name of law. In saying this, I do not intend to impose a specifically Christian morality on all the citizens in a pluralistic society; no, what is involved here is humanitas, the ‘specifically human quality’ of man, who cannot declare the trampling underfoot of creation to be his own liberation without deceiving himself on a very profound level. The passion with which this debate is conducted is due to the profundity of the question at issue: Is man free only once he has unchained himself from the creation and left it behind, as something that enslaved him? Or does he not thereby deny his own self? Ultimately, this controversy is about man himself, and a Christian cannot dispense himself from taking part in this debate by saying that it is pointless since the others do not share his moral values. That would be to misunderstand the true significance of the question. It would also be to misunderstand the true significance of the Christian message, which is more than the ethos of one particular group. It is a responsibility for man as a whole, precisely thanks to the fact that his Redeemer is none other than his Creator.”
August 2, 2011
I read this on retreat in preparation for this semester's class on the Trinity. This makes me want to read BXVI's "Introduction to Christianity" again.
I wish the section on the Holy Spirit was a little longer though. Has BXVI done in depth writing on pneumetology?
I wish the section on the Holy Spirit was a little longer though. Has BXVI done in depth writing on pneumetology?
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September 17, 2016Pope Benedict XVI did a great job writing this book. 5 Stars! If you are into Religion and Religious study's, I highly recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews