Joseph Ratzinger in Communio, Volume 1: The Unity of the Church: Vol. 1, The Unity of the Church (Resourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought, Band 1) - Softcover

Benedict XVI, Pope

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802864163 ISBN 13: 9780802864161

Verlag: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010

Inhaltsangabe

These captivating essays by Pope Benedict XVI deal with various issues facing the Church in the world today, including what unites and divides denominations, liturgy and sacred music, peace and justice in crisis, and interreligious dialogue and Jewish-Christian relations. As David Schindler notes in his introduction, "Cardinal Ratzinger -- Pope Benedict XVI -- rarely writes on any churchly matter that does not manifest its implications for man and culture, and vice versa. Indeed, this indissoluble linking is one of the main distinguishing features of his theology." This volume on the Church is to be followed by two others from Pope Benedict on, respectively, the themes of anthropology and theological renewal.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022), born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, served as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from April 2005 through February 2013. Before his papacy, he was Dean of the College of Cardinals, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and President of the International Theological Commission. An outstanding theologian and teacher, he was one of the founders, along with Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri de Lubac, of the international Catholic journal Communio. He also enjoyed a distinguished teaching career at such universities as Tübingen and Regensburg in his home country of Germany.

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Joseph Ratzinger in Communio

VOLUME I - THE UNITY OF THE CHURCHBy Pope Benedict XVI

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Copyright © 2010 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6416-1

Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................ixWhat Unites and Divides Denominations? Ecumenical Reflections................................................................................1Eschatology and Utopia.......................................................................................................................10Liturgy and Sacred Music.....................................................................................................................26Luther and the Unity of the Churches: An Interview with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger............................................................44The Ecclesiology of the Second Vatican Council...............................................................................................62Church and Economy: Responsibility for the Future of the World Economy.......................................................................78Cardinal Frings's Speeches During the Second Vatican Council: Some Reflections Apropos of Muggeridge's The Desolate City.....................85Peace and Justice in Crisis: The Task of Religion............................................................................................106Communio: A Program..........................................................................................................................118Christian Universalism: On Two Collections of Papers by Hans Urs von Balthasar...............................................................131Interreligious Dialogue and Jewish-Christian Relations.......................................................................................144The Theological Locus of Ecclesial Movements.................................................................................................158The Renewal of Moral Theology: Perspectives of Vatican II and Veritatis Splendor.............................................................183Unity of the Church—Unity of Mankind: A Congress Report................................................................................195

Chapter One

What Unites and Divides Denominations? Ecumenical Reflections

Do the denominations have anything in common? This was the question put to the speakers at an ecumenical discussion held at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Regensburg. At first glance it seems a meaningless question, because no one seriously doubts that they do. One is more inclined to wonder whether what should really have been asked was whether there actually is still anything to keep the denominations apart? For many people that question could be expanded more or less along these lines: Aren't the divisions only kept in being by the inertia of habit, especially by the dead weight of institutions which just as a matter of fact exist and are not willing to retire of their own accord? Before the late Council, Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope John are reported to have said jokingly that only the hairsplitting and obstinacy of theologians maintains the division between the Churches — the learned will not agree among themselves, and project their dispute over the whole of Christendom, though they cannot make any sense of it anymore. In the meantime, theologians — I recall names such as Lengsfeld, Schuster, Ohlig — have addressed the same reproach in all seriousness to holders of office. Only the Church authorities, they say, have an interest in division, which is only kept in existence by them for the sake of their own survival. This is a remarkable change in the situation — have the theologians reached agreement in the meanwhile? Have they seen through their controversies as mere shadow-boxing? A certain suspicion that there must be something wrong can scarcely be avoided at the sight of such a rapid change. One wonders what change of mind suddenly made something possible that for centuries never came to anything. In the laborious search for truth, sheer new insights hardly come so suddenly and decisively.

This remarkable phenomenon needs closer examination if the real weight of such assertions is to be rightly judged and correct conclusions drawn. Without denying the complexity of the matter, I should nevertheless like to venture the following diagnosis. On the whole, the swing of thought evidenced by such assertions is to be explained more in terms of the sociology of knowledge than by strictly theological considerations. The first reason is the new self-confidence gained by Catholic theologians as a result of their position at the Second Vatican Council. Hans Kng has emphasized on several occasions since then that the succession of teachers (i.e., professors of theology) stands equal and independent, side by side with what previously was exclusively known as the apostolic succession, i.e., the sequence of bishops and their office. This thesis is only a particularly bold expression of the new and increasingly widespread claim of theology and theologians generally. This indicates the second step in this development. The theologians' new self-assurance in conjunction with the social situation as a whole created a certain feeling of solidarity in the face of the Church authorities. For if the latter in virtue of their prescribed role are charged with maintaining what already exists, theology found itself by the very nature of the case, as it were, to be the advocate of change (which also corresponds to the role of the intellectual in society).

A further factor was the tardy and, consequently, all the more overpowering penetration of the modern mentality into theology, which previously had to a certain extent moved in a world of its own. This has brought theology almost abruptly to a resignation before the question of truth which since Kant has increasingly characterized modern thought. The outcome, on the one hand, has been a retreat into purely factual studies, and a sociological interpretation of the concept of truth, on the other. The truth which previously they had argued about so bravely and with all too much assurance, suddenly appears unattainable anyway. What remains as the function of the human and moral sciences, and therefore of theology as well, is the rational construction of the praxis of human social life. When the question of truth ceases to be raised, the division of Christians into different denominations does in fact lose all meaning; the only thing then is to try to replace it as soon and as thoroughly as possible by more rational forms of human association.

If the main features of this analysis are correct, it immediately clarifies our initial thesis. The new mentality which is the main reason for the new position of theologians will be based on the increasingly sociological character attributed to the question of truth. What can be said here? First of all, I think, we must most certainly admit that the new outlook has shown up some merely apparent truth for what it is, and in many matters has certainly resulted in a more sober and realistic judgment than theological controversy succeeded in achieving. Many divisive factors were, in fact, sociological, not theological in origin, not determined by truth itself. This being admitted, we must quite plainly add that all in all such a shift...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0802864163
• ISBN 13: 9780802864161
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 212
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland