Coming in March: Ratzinger's "The God of Jesus Christ"

I'm looking forward to this one:

The God of Jesus Christ: Meditations on the Triune God

by Joseph Cardinal Ratinger

Available March, 2008

Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, presents his profound meditations on the nature and person of God, building a bridge between theology and spirituality as he makes wide use of the Sacred Scriptures to reveal the beauty and mystery of who God is. He writes about each of the three persons in the Holy Trinity, showing the different attributes of each person, and that “God is three and God is one.”

God is—and the Christian faith adds: God is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three and one. This is the very heart of Christianity, but it is so often shrouded in a silence born of perplexity. Has the Church perhaps gone one step too far here? Ought we not rather leave something so great and inaccessible as God in his inaccessibility? Can something like the Trinity have any real meaning for us? It is certainly true that the proposition that "God is three and God is one" is and remains the expression of his otherness, which is infinitely greater than us and transcends all our thinking and our existence. But, as Cardinal Ratzinger shows, if this proposition meant nothing to us, it would not have been revealed! And as a matter of fact, it could be clothed in human language only because it had already penetrated human thinking and living to some extent.

"Without Jesus, we do not know what 'Father' truly is. This becomes visible in his prayer, which is the foundation of his being. A Jesus who was not continuously absorbed in the Father, and was not in continuous intimate communication with him, would be a completely different being from the Jesus of the Bible, the real Jesus of history… In Jesus' prayer, the Father becomes visible and Jesus makes himself known as the Son. The unity which this reveals is the Trinity. Accordingly, becoming a Christian means sharing in Jesus' prayer, entering into the model provided by his life, i.e. the model of prayer. Becomng a Christian means saying "Father" with Jesus, and thus becoming a child, God's son—God—in the unity of the Spirit, who allows us to be ourselves and precisely in this way draws us into the unity of God. Being a Christian means looking at the world from this central point, which gives us freedom, hope, decisiveness, and consolation." —Pope Benedict XVI

Comments

[Justin]

(I always have to ask)

When was this 'written'? Is it a compilation of separated sources, or a book that the pope sat down and wrote from beginning to end with the intention of having it published as a bound volume?

His books **dramatically** change pending the answers to questions like these. If you pick up Introduction to Christianity and Called to Communion you may leave wondering if the same person wrote them. Or, for that matter, consider "Jesus of Nazareth" and "On the Way to Jesus Christ".

I ask these things out of genuine interest. My bookshelf is covered with virtually everything ever published with the name "Ratzinger" or "Benedict XVI" on it (including a nice $75 book co-authored with Karl Rahner--fancy that), and yet only a few of them were actually written with the intention of being published in book format: Introduction to Christianity, Spirit of the Liturgy, Jesus of Nazareth, and maybe a couple other small ones. The rest, as far as I can tell, are homilies, lectures, talks, speeches, class notes, formally published articles, conference notes, etc. etc. etc.

Then a publisher seems to later say, "hey, we can publish these various disconnected pieces of literature in a bound volume." Case and Point: the chapter on the reception of the Catechism 10 years after its publication ... in a book titled "On the Way to Jesus Christ" (it presents itself as a sort of 'christology'). What is more bizzare about that example is that you have an essay written about the catechism 10 years after its publication, and yet the book came out in 2005 (?!).

Don't get me wrong: I appreciate virtually everything that ... somebody decides... to publish... with his name on it. I think it is great. Ignatius Press deserves great accolades for making "Ratzinger" readily available in the English language. I guess I just wish it was more explicit when something is a compilation of essays, homilies, etc and when something is a book.

What bothers me the most about it is I feel very confident in assuming that the *only* reason this isn't made more explicitally clear is that it would knock sales, i.e. if something was published explicitally as a "compilation of homilies given over the course of 10 years" people would be less likely to purchase it.

I see pros and cons with that.

Does anybody know when the second part to Jesus of Nazareth is coming out?

jn :)

[Justin]

Another good question: does Mark of Carl have any upcoming titles of their own?

[Paul H]

Beware the dreaded "Mark of Carl"!!!

;)

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I'm not even sure if that's funny -- it's 4 AM here so my sense of humor may be a bit off.

On a serious note, I think I understand what you mean about the difference in quality, depending on the original intent for the book's source material. I have read three books by Ratzinger / B16: Daughter Zion, Truth and Tolerance, and Jesus of Nazareth (actually I'm in the middle of this one). I thought that they were all good, and I didn't regret reading any of them. But Jesus of Nazareth is clearly the best and most readable of the three (at least to me). Is this because the others were not initially meant to be published as books? Quite possibly; though to be honest I'm not sure what the original intention was with the writings that form Daughter Zion and Truth and Tolerance, so I can't say for sure.

[Carl Olson]

Paul: I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that both Daughter Zion and Truth and Tolerance were written as books. In fact, I think they both actually flow better than does Jesus of Nazareth, which has, to me at least, a less cohesive quality to it (for example, the chapter on John [8] doesn't seem to flow with the rest of the book. That said, the content is fantastic.)

Looking at Fr. Twomey's book, Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age (p. 60), it appears that The God of Jesus Christ was originally written as a cohesive book, not a collection of essays/homilies: Der Gott Jesu Christi: Betrachtungen über den Dreieingen Gott (Munich: 1976). Mark Brumley would know far more than I do, so I leave the final word to him.

As for the "Mark of Carl," it consists of a computer chip inserted into the left knee cap, which plays "Dancing Queen" by ABBA every morning at 6:00 a.m. It costs $99.99 and is available at participating Wal-Marts and 7/11s.

[Paul H]

Paul: I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that both Daughter Zion and Truth and Tolerance were written as books. In fact, I think they both actually flow better than does Jesus of Nazareth, which has, to me at least, a less cohesive quality to it (for example, the chapter on John [8] doesn't seem to flow with the rest of the book. That said, the content is fantastic.)

Ah, well I wasn't sure about the source of those two books, so I was just speculating. Thanks for the information. I did like those books, but I just feel that Jesus of Nazareth flows better and is an easier read, while still providing some very meaty theological insights. Maybe it's because he wrote it for a more popular audience, while the others were written more for an audience that has an interest in theology. But that's just a guess too, and could be wrong.

Also, I haven't gotten all that far in reading Jesus of Nazareth yet (I'm maybe 1/3 of the way into it), so I probably haven't yet had a chance to experience the cohesion issues that you mentioned.

As for the "Mark of Carl," it consists of a computer chip inserted into the left knee cap, which plays "Dancing Queen" by ABBA every morning at 6:00 a.m. It costs $99.99 and is available at participating Wal-Marts and 7/11s.

I'll wait for the price to come down. In a couple of years, I'll probably be able to buy a used one on eBay for 10 or 20 bucks. :-)

[Paul H]

Also, this is kind of an off-the-wall and perhaps pointless comment, but I recently had occasion to visit the gift shop at a Catholic retreat center. The retreat center is apparently run by, or at least affiliated with, an order of nuns who do not wear habits, so I wasn't sure what to expect from the book selection in the gift shop. I was happy to see that most of their very small book selection included good, orthodox Catholic titles, including Pope Benedict's "Values in a Time of Upheaval" and several other Ignatius Press titles -- though there were a couple of questionable looking books as well.

However, as I looked farther along the shelf, I noticed that they had two copies of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weight Loss" sitting there amongst all the Catholic books. I'm still scratching my head over that one. :-)

[Brian Schuettler]

However, as I looked farther along the shelf, I noticed that they had two copies of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weight Loss" sitting there amongst all the Catholic books.

That must have been their Lenten selection.

[Paul H]

That must have been their Lenten selection.

Maybe so! :-)

[Justin]

Oh, gee... it should be "Carl of Mark". :)

Actually, Truth and Tolerance is a compilation (says as much in the preface, pg. 10-11.

The God of Jesus Christ appears to have been written as a "book". It was published in 1976.

Perhaps a more concentrated observation would be that he has only written a couple books in the last 30 years: Spirit of the Liturgy and Jesus of Nazareth. I believe that every other book is either a compilation of other writings, or may have been the product of one coherent thesis that was originally published in a journal, etc. and was then published as a "book".

Of course, one could make a similar observation with regard to de Lubac. I believe that both "Catholicism" and "Splendor of the Church" were originally from multiple sources. Of course the author himself pulled those sources together, revised the whole plan so as to publish it as "a book".

One of the nice things of having "difference levels of Ratzinger" is, I suppose, the ability for one to work their way up to the more difficult material. In fact, I was teaching a class in the fall and made a list of all of the available material in enlish and rated them on their level of difficulty so that people could move from the "easier" stuff to the more difficult stuff. People often get confused and think that the best place to start is "Introduction to Christianity" which is, of course, not an "easy" book. One would be much better to start with (for example) "What it Means to be Christian".

jn

[Mark Brumley]

Justin, you make a good point re: description of the book. I have asked the descriptive copy for the IP website to be updated to make the nature of the work clearer. I think the copy that is there is the original draft of the "tip sheet" sent to sales reps. The problem is, they need this info so far in advance--six months or more--sometimes they get a very quick overview and important details such as the ones you refer to get left out.

[Paul H]

In fact, I was teaching a class in the fall and made a list of all of the available material in enlish and rated them on their level of difficulty so that people could move from the "easier" stuff to the more difficult stuff.

I'd love to see that list, if you still have it. Is it short enough to post here? If not, you can contact me at paulgh@comcast.net. (Not my main e-mail address, so I don't mind posting it publicly and possibly getting more spam.)

[W.]

Many of us would like to see that list. Please post it here or perhaps at another site as an actual post, perhaps at la nouvelle theologie?

[Justin]

Paul H and W. -

I suppose that may be worthwhile. I should update it a bit. Perhaps in a week or so I will ask Christopher Blosser if he wants to put it on his website (Ratzinger Fan Club), which seems appropriate. Then Ignatius could link to it if they want.

Also, Paul: another option is to put your email address but do it like this:

paulgh (at) comcast (dot) net

I used to do that on my blog with my email address (I used to have a blog, www.nouvelletheologie.blogspot.com) and I never recieved one bit of spam because of posting the email address that way. Just a thought.

jn

[Justin]

Mark,

While this certainly doesn't replace accurate descriptions concerning the 'books', another option would be to have links to all discussions of the book (say, on IP website, blog, etc.) and link to them on the pages that promote or sell the book. That way potential buyers who are interested could read more about it. That *seems* easy enough, but I am not sure how you and Mark and the entire IP team coordinate information sharing, etc.

jn

[Paul H]

I suppose that may be worthwhile. I should update it a bit. Perhaps in a week or so I will ask Christopher Blosser if he wants to put it on his website (Ratzinger Fan Club), which seems appropriate. Then Ignatius could link to it if they want.

Don't worry about it if it's much trouble. I just thought it might be a simple matter of cut-and-paste, but I'm not trying to create extra work for you with my request. :-)

(But I will try to remember to check the Ratzinger Fan Club site, in case you do decide to post it there.)

Also, Paul: another option is to put your email address but do it like this:

Thanks. Yes, I've seen people post e-mail addresses that way, and I know it should prevent automated "bot" programs from picking up my e-mail address. For some reason though, I just don't like typing it that way. And that address is one that I use only for posting on the internet. If I ever get too much spam (which I don't get much now, surprisingly), I can just delete the address and create a new one.

[Justin]

Actually, Paul, it is no trouble. I need to do it anyway because I am going to start coordinating a theological study group at my parish, using Ratzinger only--he offers a potential bridge for many Catholics, considering that they (hopefully) have a natural desire to know who the Pope is and in learning they will be subsequently learning 'theology'. I guess you could say that I am "using the Pope".

The "trouble", if there is any, is that the primary and secondary literature of/on Ratzinger is multiplying very rapidly and is hard to keep up with. I will have to give up on trying to read most of the newest stuff because I have too many other interests. The quality of the publications when he was merely a "Cardinal" was much better because there wasn't such a "rush to publish anything by the Pope". This isn't to say that the new stuff isn't as attractive, but only to say that the older stuff was better. I am, however, interested in this new title on the Trinity (we will see...), the one on ecclesiology and the other on "Scripture, Tradition, Office" (http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Word-Scripture-Tradition-Office/dp/1586171798).

jn

[Mark Brumley]

GOD'S WORD: SCRIPTURE, TRADITION, OFFICE is vintage Ratzinger. He offers deep insights into the nature of revelation, the relationship between Scripture and Tradition, and the role of the episcopal office in keeping God's Word present in and to the Church.

Key theological discussions are taken up: whether Scripture and Tradition represent one source or two sources of the one Word of God, whether that is the best way to analyze the matter, whether the authority to teach the divine Word has been, since the closing of the biblical canon, confined to the Bible itself or continues in the episcopal office, the relation of God's people to the reality of divine revelation, to mention only a few themes.

http://www.ignatius.com/ViewProduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=3280&SKU=GWSTO-H&ReturnURL=search.aspx%3f%3fSID%3d1%26SearchCriteria%3dgod's+word

 

[Mark Brumley]

While this certainly doesn't replace accurate descriptions concerning the 'books', another option would be to have links to all discussions of the book (say, on IP website, blog, etc.) and link to them on the pages that promote or sell the book. That way potential buyers who are interested could read more about it. That *seems* easy enough, but I am not sure how you and Mark and the entire IP team coordinate information sharing, etc.

Theoretically perhaps. But it's hard to do that with the resources available.