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In honor of its fortieth anniversary (1978-2018), Ignatius Press presents a special Commemorative Edition of one of the most important works written by Joseph Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy.
This edition includes the earlier classic work with the same title by Servant of God Romano Guardini, a book that helped Ratzinger to rediscover the liturgy in all its beauty, hidden wealth and time-transcending grandeur, to see it as the animating center of the Church, the very center of Christian life.
Considered by Ratzinger devotees as one of his greatest works, this profound and beautifully written treatment of the liturgy will help readers to deepen their understanding of thegreat prayer of the Church. The cardinal discusses fundamental misunderstandings of the Second Vatican Council's intentions for liturgical renewal, especially about the priest's orientation of prayer to the Father, the placement of the tabernacle in churches, and the posture of kneeling.
Other important topics are the essence of worship, the Jewish roots of Christian prayer, the relationship of the liturgy to time and space, sacred art and music, and the active participation of the faithful in the Mass.
Is truth knowable? If we know the truth, must we hide it in the name of tolerance? Cardinal Ratzinger engages the problem of truth, tolerance, religion and culture in the modern world. Describing the vast array of world religions, Ratzinger embraces the difficult challenge of meeting diverse understandings of spiritual truth while defending the Catholic teaching of salvation through Jesus Christ. But what if it is true? is the question that he poses to cultures that decry the Christian position on man's redemption. Upholding the notion of religious truth while asserting the right of religious freedom, Cardinal Ratzinger outlines the timeless teaching of the Magisterium in language that resonates with our embattled culture. A work of extreme sensitivity, understanding, and spiritual maturity, this book is an invaluable asset to those who struggle to hear the voice of truth in the modern religious world.
Beyond all particular questions, the real problem lies in the question about truth. Can truth be recognized? Or, is the question about truth simply inappropriate in the realm of religion and belief? But what meaning does belief then have, what positive meaning does religion have, if it cannot be connected with truth?
--Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
From the Preface
Proceeding from the prayerful dialogue between the Incarnate Son and his Eternal Father, Joseph Ratzinger shows how one can approach the mystery of the Heart of Christ only through the imitation of this prayer. To know and understand Jesus we must participate in his prayer. The prayer of Christ must be the interior life of all who are joined to him in his Body, the Church. Using the Old and New Testaments and the Church Fathers, Ratzinger shows that the ecclesial community (the Church) was born from the pierced Heart of Christ on the Cross.
It took nearly thirty years for a forgotten box of cassette tapes, mislaid in an abbey in Austria, to be brought to light. On these tapes, recorded in 1985, the voice of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) walks his listeners, with small, careful steps, through the thick terrain of contemporary theology. Now, after decades, these lectures have been dusted off, transcribed, and published for readers across the globe.
The Divine Project is a study of God the Creator and of man as this Creator's masterpiece. Ratzinger, as Professor Matthew Levering writes, guides us through the most difficult domains of modern theology and modern life: how to read the Bible; the Reason of God and the reasonableness of the cosmos; the meaning of original sin; technology, ecology, and creatureliness; the Cross and the Eucharist; and Vatican II, pluralism, the Magisterium, and the nature of the Church.
This once-forgotten work offers a short and accessible tour of the whole theological world of Joseph Ratzinger, one of the most important minds of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
This book also recounts Joseph Ratzinger's calling and ordination to the priesthood, the intellectual and spiritual formation he received, his early days as a parish priest, his role as an expert at the Second Vatican Council, his experience as a popular university professor and theologian, and his appointment as Archbishop of Munich-Freising in Germany. Joseph Ratzinger would go on to serve for over two decades as the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under John Paul II, before being elected pope himself in 2005.
Written before Benedict XVI became pope, Milestones remains a valuable road map to the man's mind and heart. It dispels the media myths and legends, and it reveals the real Benedict XVI - a man of the Church who loves God and humanity, a scholar, a theologian, a teacher, and a humble pastor with deep compassion and profound spiritual insight. Illustrated.
Marys role in salvation, according to Cardinal Ratzinger, was anticipated in the Old Testament. She was prefigured in Eve, the Mother of the Living; in the holy women of the Old Testament, such as Sarah, Hannah, Deborah, Esther, and Judith; and in the prophetic image of the daughter Zion. Cardinal Ratzinger also considers Marys place as the embodiment of created wisdom, who faithfully received the Uncreated Wisdom of the World of God in the Incarnation.
Daughter Zion avoids the extremes of denying any biblical foundation for Marian doctrine on the one hand and fundamentalistic proof-texting on the other. Instead, the author beautifully and lucidly develops key biblical themes to help readers understand and appreciate the Mother of God.
Within the pages of this gem of a book, readers from all backgrounds will find helpful and encouraging wisdom which can be referred to again and again. It is a perfect gift, as well as inspirational and instructive spiritual reading for oneself throughout the year.
The Second Vatican Council says, We ought to try to discover a new reverence for the Eucharistic mystery. Something is happening that is greater than anything we can do. The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is the font from which all her power flows.
This profound statement about the Eucharist stands at the center of this book by Cardinal Ratzinger. He compellingly shows us the biblical, historical, and theological dimensions of the Eucharist. The Cardinal draws far-reaching conclusions, focusing on the importance of one's personal devotion to and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, for the personal reception of Communion by the individual Christian, as well as for the life of the Church. For Ratzinger, any transformation of the world on the social plane grows out of the celebration of the Eucharist. He beautifully illustrates how the omnipotent God comes intimately close to us in the Holy Eucharist, the Heart of Life.
Increasingly, the future is becoming a theme for theological reflection. In the background we can detect a growing concern among many people for the future of faith.
How does the promise of an eternal future affect the present? How does faith, our hope for life in the future, affect the way we live and interact with the world today? In order to answer these questions, Joseph Ratzinger reflects on such questions as the following: What precisely is faith? What does it have to do with knowledge, modern philosophical trends, technology, and our modern world? What is faith's relationship to truth? And finally, what consequences do the answers to these questions have for the future of our world and our Church?
The problem of the future assails not only the believer. In the ever more rapidly advancing process of technological change, man is confronted with enormous opportunities, but also with colossal perils. For him, the future is not only promising but also a possible nightmare. He cannot avoid asking what part faith can play in building tomorrow's world.
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, approaches the universal concern for the future from a variety of angles, bringing his deep personal faith and theological brilliance to bear on the serious questions facing mankind.
It is precisely in times of vehement historical upheaval, when all the past seems to dissolve and completely new things seem to emerge, that men need to reflect upon history, which enables them to see the unreal exaggeration of the moment in the right perspective and integrates them again into a happening that never repeats itself but, on the other hand, never loses its unity and its context. . . . I maintain that reflection upon history, properly understood, embraces both looking back into the past and, with that as the starting point, reflecting on the possibilities and tasks of the future, which can only become clear if we survey a fairly long stretch of the road and do not naively shut ourselves up in the present.
-- Joseph Ratzinger
In these homilies, most of which are previously unpublished, Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, addresses the theme he has celebrated, pondered, and witnessed by his life more than any other: love. For him, love is the vital nucleus of the Church and to serve Christ is above all a question of love: Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep (Jn 21:15-17).
Love is also the quest of every human being on the journey toward eternity. He beautifully states, Christianity is a movement, a journey; it is not a theory, a sum total of doctrine; Christianity is life, it is a vital impetus that carries us toward true life. . . . Someone who has found love can say: I have found life.
Arranged by the liturgical seasons of the Church year, the homilies predate the author's pontificate. The earliest dates from 1970 while he was still a professor of theology. Thus, this collection traces the way Joseph Ratzinger has been enamored of the love of God throughout his years of serving the Church.
Seek out the Lord and his might; constantly seek his face. This concise admonition from the Book of Psalms captures the impetus of Seeking God's Face. In these meditations, Joseph Ratzinger reflects upon the major feasts and the Sundays of the year, inspired by Scripture, the Church Fathers, and the lives of the saints. The seasons of Advent and Christmas receive particular attention, with an address on the mystery of suffering, a sermon on the Word Made Flesh, and a consideration of the contribution of St. Francis of Assisi to Christmas celebrations, which join The Lesson of the Christmas Donkey by Pope John Paul I in honoring the birth of Jesus Christ, in whom we encounter the very face of God.
Originally published in English in 1982, Seeking God's Face shines with a spirit of joyful wisdom and serves as a source for much fruitful meditation on the central mysteries of the Catholic faith as they are celebrated over the course of the Church calendar.
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, writes eloquently and persuasively about how one can live as a serious Christian in today's secular world. He talks in depth about the true meaning of faith, hope, and love--the love of God and the love of neighbor.He also discusses at length the crucial importance of a lived faith, for the believer himself as well as being a witness for our age, and striving to bring faith in line with the present age that has veered off into rampant secularism and materialism. He passionately encourages the reader to practice a deep, abiding Christian faith that seeks to be at the service of humanity.
As Joseph Ratzinger mentions in the preface, the book presents in written form three sermons that the author preached in the Cathedral at Muenster to a congregation from the Catholic Student Chaplaincy, December 13-15, 1964.
In other words, these are essays derived from sermons preached to college students toward the end of Vatican II. They are remarkable, among other reasons, for their insights into the ongoing Christian struggle to understand and realize in action what it means to be a Christian.
Contents:
First Sermon: Are We Saved? Or, Job Talks with God
Christianity as Advent
The Unfulfilled Promise
Are We Saved?
The Hidden God
In our generation the Christian Faith finds itself in a much deeper crisis than at any other time in the past. In this situation it is no solution to shut our eyes in fear in the face of pressing problems, or to simply pass over them. If faith is to survive this age, then it must be lived, and above all, lived in this age. And this is possible only if a manifestation of faith is shown to have value for our present day, by growing to knowledge and fulfillment.
-- Pope Benedict XVI, From the Introduction
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.
This volume is an unabridged edition of Dogma and Preaching, a work that appeared in a much-reduced form in English, in 1985. The new book contains twice as much material as first English edition.
Dogma, for many people, is a bad word. For the well-informed believer, it shouldn't be. Dogmas are truths revealed by God, which should enlighten the minds, guide the choices, and gladden the hearts of Jesus' disciples, including pastors, deacons, and lay teachers. But, as Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), notes in the foreword to this book, The path from dogma to proclamation or preaching has become very troublesome. Finding ways to relate the content of the Church's dogmas to everyday life can be challenging for today's preachers and teachers. Some people find the task so daunting that they leave dogma out. As a result, they wind up presenting something other than the Church's faith and speak in their own name, offering perhaps unwittingly merely their own, subjective ideas, rather than the Word of God. In Dogma and Preaching, the theologian and priest Joseph Ratzinger provides (1) a theory of preaching for today; (2) application of this theory to some themes for preaching drawn from the Church's dogmas; (3) meditations and sermons based on the liturgical year and the communion of saints; and (4) some thoughts regarding the decade after the Second Vatican and Christianity's seeming irrelevance. Ratzinger insists that sound preaching should rest on three pillars-Dogma, Scripture, and the Church Today, the contemporary situation in which the Church finds herself. He shows that the proper understanding of the Church, her dogmas, the nature of faith, and the contemporary world allow the proclaimer-believer to remain faithful to the Church's mission and life-changing message.
Jesus Christ is as popular as ever. Films, books, and news articles ask,Who was Jesus Christ? Even outside of Christianity he continues to appeal to people. And yet for so many, the popular Jesus is not the Jesus of Christianity. The popular Jesus makes no demands and never challenges people. He accepts everyone and everything under all circumstances.
On the Way to Jesus Christ is a series of meditations that Pope Benedict XVI wrote while he was Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The true Jesus he writes, is the Jesus of the Gospels who is quite different, demanding and bold. The Jesus who makes everything okay for everyone is a phantom, a dream, not a real figure. The Jesus of the Gospels is certainly not convenient for us. But it is precisely in this way that he answers the deepest question of our existence, which--whether we want to or not--keeps us on the lookout for God, for a gratification that is limitless, for the infinite. We must again set out on the way to this real Jesus.
This book also examines whether Jesus Christ is the only savior, and the Church's responsibility to evangelize. It concludes with reflections on Jesus' Presence in the Holy Eucharist, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church's presentation of the Christian mystery as seen through the Catechism's dynamic view of Sacred Scripture.
On the Way to Jesus Christ is for anyone--believer or nonbeliever-who wants better to understand the true Jesus, the Jesus of the Gospels, the Christ of Christianity.