Today is the fifth anniversary ...

... of Pope Benedict XVI's now famous lecture at the University of Regensburg, where he once taught theology—a lecture that is, I think it is safe to say, considered his most controversial and polarizing public utterance as pontiff.

But, in reflecting on what the Pope said five years ago, a few simple questions are in order for, well, anyone interested in the topic:

1. What is the Regensburg Address considered so controversial and, by some, so tone deaf and insensitive?
2. What did Benedict XVI actually say about Islam?
3. What, in a sentence or two, was the central thesis/point of the Address?
4. Who or what is criticized the most heavily in the Address? For what?
5. Have you actually read the Address?

Back in 2006, I posted liinks to some Ignatius Insight essays about the Address. Here they are:

Pope Benedict XVI, Regensburg, and Islam | Autumn 2006

• Pope Benedict XVI's Regensburg lecture | Vatican Website

• Is Dialogue with Islam Possible? Some Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Address at the University of Regensburg | Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J.
Both before and since his elevation to the papacy, Benedict has taken a consistent approach to controversial issues: he locates the assumptions and fundamental principles underlying the controversy, analyzes their "inner" structure or dynamism, and lays out the consequences of the principles. Continue reading...

• The Regensburg Lecture: Thinking Rightly About God and Man | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
On September 12, on his visit to his native Bavaria, Benedict XVI gave a formal academic lecture at the University at which he formerly was a professor. It is a brilliant, stunning lecture, and it is a lecture, not a papal pronouncement. It brings into focus just why there is a papacy and why Catholicism is an intellectual religion. Indeed, it is a lecture on why reason is reason and what this means. The scope of this lecture is simply breathtaking, but also intelligible to the ordinary mind. Continue reading...

• Benedict Takes the Next Step with Islam | Mark Brumley
We're hearing calls for more dialogue with Islam in the wake of the uproar following Pope Benedict XVI's remarks at the University of Regensburg. Yet the uproar itself underscores the problem with such calls for dialogue. How can you talk seriously with people when they're apt to react violently as soon as you say something they don't want to hear? Continue reading...

• Ratzinger and Regensburg: On What Is a University? | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
The controversy over Benedict XVI's lecture at the University of Regensburg is not just about the status of truth in Islam. Rather at issue is the nature of a university. What happens there? The notion of state ministers and legislatures entering into this issue by their political methods, threatening this or that because of what is argued in a university, is itself a failure to grasp what a university is, let alone what a state is. Continue reading...

• The Price of Abandoning Reason | Dr. Jose Yulo
• Are Truth, Faith, and Tolerance Compatible? | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• The Usual Suspects, the Usual Suspect Stuff | Carl E. Olson
• The Double Standard | Carl E. Olson
• The (False) Tale of Two Popes | Carl E. Olson
• Learn "History" From the MSM! | Carl E. Olson

IGNATIUSINSIGHT.COM ARTICLES ON RELATED TOPICS:

• On Reading the Pope | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• 9/11 Revisited | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• Tom Burnett: A Hero on Flight 93 | An interview with Deena Burnett, author of Fighting Back
• Martyrs and Suicide Bombers | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• On the Term "Islamo-Fascism" | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• Spartans, Traitors, and Terrorists | Dr. Jose Yulo
• Plato's Ring in the Sudan: How Freedom Begets Isolation of the Soul | Dr. Jose Yulo
• The Molochs of Modernity | Dr. Jose Yulo
• The Echo of Melos: How Ancient Honor Unmasks Islamic Terror | Dr. Jose Yulo
• Urban II: The Pope of the First Crusade | Régine Pernoud
• Crusade Myths | Thomas F. Madden
• Mistakes, Yes. Conspiracies, No. | The Fourth Crusade | Vince Ryan

Comments

[lee faber]

The regensburg address also outraged the Scotists, because of the false and misleading statements about Duns Scotus, but we didn't get any media coverage because we didn't riot and kill people.

[Steve Cianca]

Here is an excellent article by Samuel Gregg at NRO on the continuing significance of Benedict's Regensburg address.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/276883/benedict-regensburg-why-it-still-matters-samuel-gregg

[Carl E. Olson]

Lee: I, for one, admire your restraint. ;-) You might be happy to know that Ignatius Press will soon be distributing the film, "Blessed Duns Scotus: Defender of the Immaculate Conception" (available in October).