Ratzinger's Faith. The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI
By Tracey Rowland
download the book: Ratzinger's Faith. The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI pdf
"This work was written as a guide to the thought of Benedict XVI for those who are not necessarily professional theologians but who are none the less interested to follow the thought of the leader of the world’s largest Christian communion."
"No Pope in history has published as much high quality theology on such a variety of topics as Pope Benedict XVI. At the time of his election to the papacy few would have disputed his position as the most distinguished living Catholic theologian, although his writings
have not had the same seminal importance as those of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Yves Congar, and Karl Rahner, who have predeceased him.
Other popes have made more important contributions to the development of doctrine, such as Leo the Great at the Council of Chalcedon and even Pope John Paul II, especially with his two moral encyclicals Veritatis Splendor and Evangelium Vitae; but in this second example Joseph Ratzinger’s role as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was signiWcant.
Tracey Rowland’s new volume on Ratzinger’s Faith: the Theology of Pope Benedict XVI is an example of Wrst-rate scholarship, further enhancing her progress towards becoming Australia’s leading theologian. It is also an enjoyable read and more accessible than her earlier masterly
work Culture and the Thomist Tradition: after Vatican II (2003) which charted the contending cultural forces in western society after the Council, our naı¨ve optimism about the beneWcence of modernity and our equally damaging overestimation of Catholic cultural strength
in the meltdown (more or less) of faith and practice nearly everywhere in the First World. Before the Council, Catholic Holland and Frenchspeaking Canada ranked with Ireland as high points of faith, piety, and missionary endeavour. Today only ashes remain in Holland, although
the embers are starting to glow once again, Cardinal Ouellet is struggling manfully in Quebec, and the fate of Catholic Ireland, still with formidable strengths despite the sexual scandals, hangs in the balance."
