Teaching the theologians

From Sandro Magister of Chiesa:

ROME, November 2, 2009 – At the general audience last Wednesday, Benedict XVI made a clean break. He didn't discuss the figure of a Church Father or a great medieval Christian author, as he has done systematically for a long time. The previous Wednesday, for example, he talked about Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Wednesday before that, about Peter the Venerable, the great abbot of Cluny.

No. This time, pope Joseph Ratzinger turned his catechesis into a history lesson on theology. He dedicated it entirely to describing twelfth-century Latin theology, which blossomed in the abbeys and cathedrals, and would produce its ripest fruit in the following century, with the masterpieces of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.

As is the practice, the written outline of the papal catecheses is prepared by trusted experts with competence in a particular field. Benedict XVI sees the text in advance and enhances it, prunes it, supplements it. In short, he makes it his own. And when he finally reads it to the faithful, he often departs from it even further, improvising. Last winter, www.chiesa reprinted the five catecheses that the pope dedicated to Saint Augustine, emphasizing the many passages in which he departed from the written text.
 
The main expert in this area is Inos Biffi, a medieval theology scholar of rare profundity and with a clear writing style, as can be seen in his imposing bibliography which is being published in its entirety, in magnificent volumes, by Jaca Book. With him, it is more rare for Benedict XVI to depart from the written text when he preaches to the faithful. The impression is that there is a strong harmony between the pope and his current "ghostwriter," both in thought and in manner of expression.
 
In the catechesis last Wednesday on the blossoming of theology in the twelfth century, one citation is particularly revealing.

It is the citation of a book by a Benedictine scholar of the past century, Jean Leclercq, dedicated to medieval monastic theology and entitled "L’amour des lettres et le désir de Dieu [The Love of Learning and The Desire for God]."

This book is a favorite of Ratzinger the theologian. As pope, he had already cited it on a previous occasion, in one of the most important speeches of his pontificate, delivered on September 12, 2008, at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris, and addressed to the world of culture.

The greatness of medieval monastic theology, as interpretated by Leclercq, Biffi, and Ratzinger, lies in the connection it makes between the search for God and the study of the word, of language, of literature. The search for God and the culture of the word are one and the same, not only in theology but also in spiritual elevation. And they are at the foundation of European civilization.

But alongside monastic theology, scholastic theology also blossomed in the twelfth century, in the cathedral schools. With a powerful emphasis on reason, on fruitful dialogue between "fides et ratio," between faith and reason.

With this lesson on grand medieval theology, it is as if Benedict XVI has wanted to draw the guidelines for the theology of today. As the pope theologian that he is.

The following is the complete text of his lesson.

Read the Pope's October 28th general audience. I read Leclercq's book for the first time last year, and it is a fascinating study of monastic thinking and theology.

• Jesus, The Apostles, and the Early Church | Pope Benedict XVI
• Church Fathers: From Clement of Rome to Augustine  | Pope Benedict XVI

Comments

[Rich Leonardi]

Fascinating. Biffi is the co-author of the wonderful An Illustrated Catechism, published in the U.S. by Liturgy Training Publications in 2007. I reviewed it for Amazon shortly after its release.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1JG2HNCIV5363/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

[Jeff Grace]

Again, the Holy Father shows us he truly has his ear tuned to the heartbeat of the Church. I get the distinct impression, however, that we have yet to hear a voice that rises above the schizophrenic state of today's theology and the lack of vision in the Church that reflects this state. Rather than looking to Aquinas or Bonaventure to provide that vision, it is my hope that we hear a voice that performs the same task for us today that these giants performed for the Church in their own time.