An "idiosyncratic and genuinely insightful view" of Benedict XVI

The January 26th issue of National Review has a short review, written by Michael Potemra, of Peter Seewald's Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait, published recently by Ignatius Press. Potemra writes that the book "lives up to its title: It offers an idiosyncratic and genuinely insightful view of one of the world’s great spiritual leaders." As to the question, "Why is the current pope so doggedly countercultural?", it is because, Seewald notes, Benedict's father was so passionately and courageously opposed to Naziism. Seewald quotes Cardinal Ratzinger as saying, "In the faith of my parents ... I found confirmation for Catholicism as a bulwark of truth and righteousness against that kingdom of atheism and lies represented by National Socialism" (p. 138).

Potemra writes:

How could such an intelligent Church liberal—as Ratzinger had been at Vatican II—have become such a strong advocate of orthodoxy in dogma? “There is a break in his biography, no question,” says Küng. “I believe there must still have been, somewhere in his heart, an unenlightened shrine to an old-fashioned God.” This is the crux of the matter: Ratzinger believes in a God Who pre-exists human decisions about Him, and Who offers more solid guidance than evanescent intellectual fashions do.

This echoes what Fr. D. Vincent Twomey, S.V.D., author of Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age (A Theological Portrait), has said about his former professor (in this Ignatius Insight interview):

His methodology is to take as his starting point contemporary developments in society and culture, then he listens to the solutions offered my his fellow theologians before returning to a critical examination of Scripture and Tradition for pointers to a solution. He is not satisfied to analyze a topic, but, having dissected the issue, he then attempts a systematic answer by seeing the topic in the context of theology as a whole. Unlike Küng, who is always in tune with the latest fashion, Ratzinger is not afraid to be unfashionable. Unlike Rahner, who produced a full systematic theology, Ratzinger's theology is fragmentary--filled with brilliant insights into almost every subject of theology and yet not a fixed "system".

Using the best findings of academic theology, Ratzinger goes beyond them to create something new and original. He is more than an academic. He is an original thinker, whose scattered writings on a host of subjects are "seminal", awaiting development by others. Finally, unlike either Küng or (especially) Rahner, Ratzinger writes with a clarity and, at times, literary beauty, that never fails to impress.

Related Ignatius Insight excerpts and articles:

• "A Revolutionary of the Christian Type" | Peter Seewald | The Preface to Benedict XVI: An Intimate Portrait
• Benedict XVI's Theological Vision: An Introduction | Monsignor Joseph Murphy | From the introduction to Christ Our Joy: The Theological Vision of Pope Benedict XVI
• The Theological Genius of Joseph Ratzinger | An Interview with Fr. D. Vincent Twomey, S.V.D.
• The Courage To Be Imperfect | The Introduction to Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age (A Theological Portrait) | D. Vincent Twomey, S.V.D.
• Ratzinger on the Modern Mind | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• On Reading the Pope | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• Ratzinger's Faith and Reason | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.

Comments

[Dan Deeny]

Several years ago I had an interview for a high school Spanish teaching position. The principal and I talked for a time and then the other Spanish teacher, an attractive young lady, came in to test my Spanish. We talked for a bit in Spanish and then returned to English. Almost immediately she launched into an attack on the new, German pope, Benedict XVI. She said something about his committing genocide (Yes, she used that word.) in Latin America. And that the Latin Americans were very worried. I was amazed. I had no idea what she was talking about. I mumbled something about Sendero Luminoso, but I didn't think the pope was connected to them.
I will get this book, read it, and send it to the young lady.

[Telemachus]

"Ratzinger's theology is fragmentary--filled with brilliant insights into almost every subject of theology and yet not a fixed "system"."

Nor should it ever be. Some of the worst ideologies have come out of sophists attempting to grasp various "systems." I think it bespeaks B16's prudence and wisdom that he does not come out and say "This is what I think about everything." Rather, I think he will leave behind enough fragments of thought to the faithful to keep them going into the next centuries in terms of both practical and theological matters.

"She said something about his committing genocide... in Latin America."

Good Lord, what!? I'm not sure this woman needs a book... maybe an exorcist. I think Latin Americans are probably more worried about some of the tyrants in their own midst than a kindly old fellow in Rome.