The Ratzinger Reader - by Joseph Ratzinger (Paperback)

About the Book

A fascinating and insightful volume collecting together the key writings of Joseph Ratzinger.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

An indispensable guide for understanding the theology of Joseph Ratzinger. Belgian Lieven Boeve and Irish Gerard Mannion have charted the theological journey of this German figure who has cast a long shadow for more than fifty years on the church and the world as university professor, expert at Vatican II, but above all as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith for more than twenty years and now as Pope Benedict XVI. Ratzinger insists that his theological opinions are distinct from his official positions as prefect and pope, but this collection shows otherwise. A very personal theology has become the official theology of the church. This book offers the most comprehensive selection of writings from the various stages of Ratzinger's career arranged according to central topics, which Boeve and Mannion introduce by identifying crucial contexts and critical issues informing these texts.

Anyone attempting to gain serious familiarity with the theology of Joseph Ratzinger will find this book invaluable. Through a judicious selection of texts that represent Ratzinger's thinking in the areas of theology to which he has paid most attention, the editors provide a reliable overview of his thought. They offer informed introductions to each theme that they highlight and to each text that they choose, alerting readers to the context and the main preoccupation of Ratzinger in each of their selections, as well as to possible alternative viewpoints in many cases. This book is not just a conventional reader but a uniquely structured, signposted guide through the terrain of Ratzinger's theology as a whole. It comes at exactly the right time in emerging Ratzinger scholarship, providing a pathway for the uninitiated as well as a compact one-volume resource for those who are further along the road. I recommend it highly.

First as a theologian, then bishop and later the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger is often thought to have moved steadily to the right. In this collection, Gerard Mannion and Lieven Boeve dispel such easy generalizations. With judiciously chosen and suitably lengthy extracts from Ratzinger's writings, accompanied by helpful editorial comments, these two leading European Catholic theologians demonstrate the continuity of the one Ratzinger and consequently shed light on the complexity of his present-day role as Pope. Anyone who wishes to understand better the current face of Roman theology is greatly in their debt.

About the Author

Joseph Ratzinger was Professor of theology at Munich and Regensburg before becoming head of the Congreation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected Pope taking the name Benedict XVI. in 2005. Lieven Boeve is professor of fundamental theology at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), where he currently also serves as Dean of the Faculty and as the co-ordinator of the Research Group Theology in a Postmodern Context. His research concerns theological epistemology, philosophical theology, truth in faith and theology, tradition development and hermeneutics. He is the author of Interrupting Tradition. An Essay on Christian Faith in a Postmodern Context (2003) and God Interrupts History. Theology in a Time of Upheaval (2007). He has co-edited various volumes, of which the most recent are: Augustine and Postmodern Thought: A New Alliance against Modernity? (2009) and Orthodoxy: Process and Product (2009). From 2005 till 2009 he served as president of the European Society for Catholic Theology.

Gerard Mannion is Director of the Centre for Catholic Thought and Culture and Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, USA.