40% off Tessa Bowman' "Employee Pick of the Week"

40% off Tessa Bowman' Pick of the Week*

Ratzinger's Truth and Tolerance had been tempting me from the bookshelf where it lay since I began at Ignatius Press a few months ago. Arriving with a background in International Development from a public university, I wondered how cultural diversity, tolerance and world religion would be addressed by a man who leads the Church that claims to possess (that public school no-no phrase) “absolute truth.”
 
What I discovered in its pages was not a dainty, unmoving response to my curiosity. Instead it offered a powerful and consequence-bearing discussion of what it means to discover, explore and accept truth—with confidence. It presents neither a pompous declaration of “religious superiority,” nor an apologetic, half-hearted “acceptance” of anything and everything. Ratzinger suggests a “radical process of reflection about what [Christians] are and what they are not, what they believe and what they do not believe, what they have to offer and what they cannot offer.”
 
Truth and Tolerance becomes a call to practically question the premises on which one lays claim to truth, and once discovered, to lovingly act upon that truth. A wonderful read for anyone wanting to explore or reignite their beliefs in the context of other religions. Truth and Tolerance is also available as an ebook.


Tessa Bowman joined the Ignatius Press accounting team in May after graduating from UCLA in 2011 with a degree in International Development Studies. After working on an education project in Kenya, Tessa left Africa refreshed and determined to work for another organization which explored and defended her beliefs. She was thrilled to find her place at Ignatius Press. She pays the bills, so keep smiling at her.


*Employee Pick of the Week program features savings of 40% off a book, movie, or compact disc personally chosen and recommended by an Ignatius Press employee.  Each week, an Ignatius Press employee will select a favorite book, movie, or other Ignatius Press product and write a few sentences about why he/she thinks customers will enjoy the particular selection. A short bio of the selecting employee will also be included, giving customers a chance to learn a bit more about the people who are Ignatius Press

Comments

[Dan]

Truth and Tolerance is my second favorite Ratzinger book, after Introduction to Christianity. The essays that make up Truth and Tolerance provide a highly sophisticated and nuanced treatment of both the problems associated with relativism and the problems associated with truth claims. It has been some years since I have read it. One of Ratzinger's observations that has stayed with me is that that the idea that Christians should not "impose" their values on other cultures through missionary work is patronizing (as though non-Christians cannot handle hearing about a foreign idea) and contrary to the often professed value of "dialogue." I also recall that somewhere in Truth & Tolerance Ratzinger expresses his opinion that it was providential that Christianity burst upon the Hellenic scene not long after Greek philosophy had reasoned its way to the "God of philosophy." One cannot love an an abstract idea, one can love only a person and this person is found in Christ.