Abstracts

Session 1 - Logos

Prof. Rev. Pablo Blanco Sarto, Profesor titular Facultad de Teología, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

“The Meaning of Logos as Used by Joseph Ratzinger”

This paper is a presentation of the meaning of the word logos as used by the theologian J. Ratzinger. We will focus on a third meaning of the term, understood as both human word and human thinking, and which promotes a dialogue of faith with philosophy and secular reason. For the German theologian, this use of reason implies a distinguishing aspect of Christianity with respect to other religions. Christianity’s perspective is positive and complementary: faith accepts reason’s critical thinking, and human knowledge is broadened and enriched by Christian revelation. Christianity accepted philosophy before other religions had – what Ratzinger has called “the victory of the intelligence” in the world of religions, where, in the future, a “true Enlightenment” should also come about, broader and deeper than the one that took place in modern times.

Prof. Alejandro Sada, Research Professor at the Institute of Humanities of the Panamerican University, México 

“The Philosophical Strength of Ratzinger’s Logocentrism”

Shortly before his election as pope, Cardinal Ratzinger reminded Christians that their faith is “the religion of the Logos”, and added that “precisely this ought to give Christianity its philosophical power today” (Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures, 49). This conviction is already found in his 1968 Introduction to Christianity, where he argues that to be Christian implies choosing the Logos as the original and fundamental force of the world. For Joseph Ratzinger, faith means the choice of truth in a specific sense, because for it being is truth, comprehensibility and meaning. In this essay I argue that Ratzinger's logocentrism –his understanding of the world based on the primacy of the Logos– is a suitable foundation for the philosopher to enrich his philosophical vision of reality. After reflecting on what it means to have a philosophical vision, I show that opting for the ontological centrality of the Logos facilitates the articulation of an integrative worldview, for it clears the way for the realisation of four syntheses, of which the tensions have marked the rhythm of the history of philosophical thought: truth and meaning; love and reason; subject and object; and being and time. The synthesising potential of Ratzinger's approach makes visible the philosophical strength of the Christian faith.

Session 2 - Reformation & Luther

Dr Emil Anton, Catholic religion teacher at the English School of Helsinki. Finnish language collaborator of Vatican News 

"Ratzinger and the Reformation"

The paper examines Ratzinger’s relationship to Luther and Lutheranism. As a German, Ratzinger was more familiar with Lutheran theology than most other theologians and popes, and as an Augustinian, he shared a theological affinity with him. It is well known that for Ratzinger there were “two Luthers”, a positive and a negative one, Luther the catechist and Luther the rebel. But Ratzinger’s view of Luther was “very positive” even where he most disagreed with the reformer, i.e. on the dialectic of Law and Gospel, because Luther’s theology was the result of personally wrestling with God, not a mere academic endeavour. This paper further argues that Ratzinger’s view of Luther was naturally but overly influenced by modern German Protestant interpretations of Luther, rightly criticized more recently by Finnish Luther scholars who look at the Reformer through a medieval rather than a Kantian (or Heideggerian) lens. The Finnish perspective on Luther can help overcome some apparent contradictions between Ratzinger and Luther. These include Ratzinger’s idea of Luther’s view of faith (Ilmari Karimies), Ratzinger’s idea of Luther’s view on love and salvation (Olli-Pekka Vainio), and Ratzinger’s idea of Luther’s view on the Eucharist (Jari Jolkkonen). It is also shown that some of the previously controverted issues have already been resolved in recent Catholic-Lutheran dialogue reports. Or have they? What are some of the core obstacles to unity?  

Session 3 - Ecumenism

Dr Stephen G. Brown, Editor of The Ecumenical Review, the quarterly theological journal of the World Council of Churches (WCC), France

“The Ecumenical Theology of Joseph Ratzinger”

In an address after his election, Pope Benedict XVI pledged to work for the full and visible unity of all Christ’s followers and to do everything in his power to promote the fundamental cause of ecumenism. Joseph Ratzinger was the first pope to have come from a country with a roughly equal balance between Protestants and Catholics, and the first to have served on a body of the World Council of Churches, when in 1968 Roman Catholics were appointed for the first time as full members of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order. In his writings, Joseph Ratzinger showed deep interest in questions of ecumenical relationships. He was a member in Germany of the Ökumenische Arbeitskreis evangelischer und katholischer Theologen, and co-chair with Protestant Bishop Eduard Lohse of the Joint Ecumenical Commission, which paved the way for the study on “Lehrverurteilungen – kirchentrennend?”, and indirectly for the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) between the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation. As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger played an important role in the final stages of the JDDJ. The aim of this paper is to review the ecumenical theology of Joseph Ratzinger, to consider the extent to which it formed part of his ministry as Pope Benedict XVI, and its continuing significance, especially in relationships with the churches of the Reformation and the Orthodox Church.

Rev Dr Tim Perry, Professor of Theology and Church Ministries at Providence Theological Seminary in Otterburne, Manitoba, Canada.

“Joseph Ratzinger: Evangelical Ecumenist” 

Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, is remembered as a Catholic traditionalist by both critics and admirers alike. This is seen in his hermeneutic of continuity with respect to the documents of the Second Vatican Council, his support for the Latin Mass, and his own theological contributions. His reflections on ecumenical and interfaith relations are regularly presented as especially fraught, whether we are thinking of Dominus Iesus, produced under his direction while director of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or more recently, his much (and unfairly) maligned Regensburg Address. While it is certainly right to see the late Holy Father as a committed Catholic and indeed a traditionalist after a fashion, this paper will argue that this picture needs qualification. Specifically, it will present a trend among similarly some traditional Protestant theologians to regard Ratzinger/Benedict as a sympathetic fellow-traveler and ecumenical dialogue partner precisely for reasons that will strike some, both Catholics and Protestants, critics and admirers alike, as counter intuitive. Although not intended for an ecumenical audience, the paper will focus on Ratzinger’s Marian lectures in Daughter Zion as an example of ecumenical outreach, affirming both the letter and spirit of Lumen Gentium 8. This form is ecumenical engagement, finally, will be presented as more realistic and ultimately more hopeful than much of what has been practiced over the last half century since the Council’s conclusion.

Session 4 - Priesthood

Prof. Michaela  C. Hastetter, Catholic University ITI, Trumau, Austria. 

“The Idea of a Priest in the Light of Joseph Ratzinger’s Interpretation of John 7:37-38”

The  title makes allusion to John Henry Newman’s “Idea of a University ''. With this book Newman had in mind a perfect concept of academic formation. Taking its cue from Newman’s talks to the Catholics in Dublin, the question of priestly formation will be focused  on, as well as the theological foundations of priestly openness. Starting with Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to Ireland (2010), where he expressed the needs of the time, with respect to the contemporary challenges of secularism and the deficit of making greater  reference to the Gospel.  A new approach to the understanding of J. Ratzinger’s theology of priesthood, in its openness, will be undertaken in the light of the biblical-patristic interpretation of John 7:37-39, as an hitherto unnoticed key to his vision of  a priest. In this regard the Alexandrian reading and the Antiochian understanding of Jesus’ prophecy during the feast of the tabernacles, which Ratzinger already touched on in his trilogy “Jesus of Nazareth”, will be unfolded, after a short exegetical note  to these verses by exemplary representatives of the two schools. The result will be connected with Ratzinger’s theology of openness concerning the priestly ministry, where he had developed a Christocentric and a ‘Pneumatocentric’ line. From there, an actualization  will be offered by returning to the papal letter to Ireland with some proposals for a future pastoral of priesthood in its phase of formation, keeping in mind the reference to Christ and the Spirit, which will have been treated, as well as Ratzinger’s own  thoughts to a priestly formation. 

Session 5 - Emerging Scholars

Emmet O’Regan, Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin

“The Eschatological Thought of Pope Benedict XVI”

Having reached adolescence at the height of the Second World War, Joseph Ratzinger’s first-hand experience of living under the auspices of a totalitarian government had a profound impact on the development of his later theological outlook.  Witnessing the destruction wrought by Nazi Germany instigated by the worldly promises of a utopian “Thousand-Year Reich” (Tausendjähriges Reich) had nurtured a deep mistrust of millenarian thought in the young Joseph Ratzinger (1927-2022).  We can find evidence of Ratzinger’s thought on this subject in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), which describes the millenarian ideology inherent to Nazism and Communism as an “’intrinsically perverse’ political form of […] secular messianism” (CCC n. 676). By way of antidote to the intra-historical focus of millenarianism, which attempts to “immanentize the eschaton” (Eric Voeglin), Ratzinger was drawn to the more transcendental “eschatological hope” of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), which was firmly oriented towards the spiritual treasures of the new life to come (Matt 6:19-21).  In adopting Augustinianism as his principal theological school, Ratzinger was undoubtedly influenced by the theology of Henri de Lubac (1896-1991), who had similarly compared the secular-messianic ideology of Nazism and Communism with the millenarian vision of the medieval Joachimite movement.  This paper will attempt to demonstrate how Ratzinger’s Augustinian view of the theology of history would ultimately set him into conflict with Johann Baptist Metz (1928-2019) and the proponents of liberation theology, due to their reliance on the politico-theological ideas of Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) and Jürgen Moltmann (1926-).

Nikolaos Garagouni, University of the Angelicum, Rome 

“Joseph Ratzinger’s unnoted new impulse to ecumenism: The omission of the Filioque from the Latin Creed in the declaration of ‘Domimis Iesus’” 

Back in 2000 the declaration of “Domimis Iesus” caused a real tsunami of protest and alarm even among Catholics who saw in it as an attempt to reestablish allegedly Roman totalitarianism. More than the declaration itself what provoked that fright was actually the scary stereotypes that were associated to the personality of Cardinal Ratzinger through the 80s and 90s. Yet, in reality the declaration of “Domimis Iesus”, is everything else than regressive. True, that Ratzinger strongly refuses to give in to the false expectations of the modern world born by the relativizations of the role of the Church. Yet, by certain gestures such as the deliberate omission of the Filioque in the Latin Creed cited at purpose in “Domimis Iesus”, he offers to discern the Christian truth and the redemption offered by Christ by the capacity of the sensus Fidei, as happened in the Ancient Church rather than by the usual dogmatizing. Ratzinger so other than suggesting a breakthrough to impasse to which the classical analysis of the Filioque has led, proposes so also a new understanding of the Creed, which I would like to share with you in the following presentation.

Session 6 - Faith and the Church

Dr Shannon Wylie, University of Toronto

“Ratzinger’s Existential Ecclesiology and Interreligious Dialogue”

Across his writings, Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI repeatedly emphasizes that theology must remain close to the experience of the simple and pure-hearted faithful of the Church. Within this experience of faith, there is mutual reinforcement in the relationship with Christ and the relationship with His body, the Church. Both relationships help one another. As one grows in the experience of the Church, one becomes closer to Christ. As one becomes closer to Christ, one grows in love for his/her fellow Christians. At the same time, the nature of the experience of these relationships is not meant to be insular. There is the outward dynamic of mission that is an essential aspect of the Christian faith experience.

In this paper, I will engage with Ratzinger’s description of the mutual reinforcement of these two relationships in order to show their connection with the mission of the Church. Specifically, Ratzinger’s thought on these topics will be explored in order to argue for his contribution to the particular mission of interreligious dialogue. Fidelity to the Church in interreligious theology has sometimes been explained in an eccentric or loose manner, with an underlying negative evaluation of the usefulness of a strong sense of belonging to the universal Church within interreligious dialogue. Instead, Ratzinger is continually positive with regards to the Church and fidelity to her. With his understanding of the positive role the Church plays, it will be shown how belonging and formation within the Church contribute concretely to helpful attitudes in interreligious dialogue.

Rev Dr Martin Onuoha, Maryvale and Parish Priest, UK 

“Marian Aspects of Joseph Ratzinger's Ecclesiology” 

This paper will set out Ratzinger’s understanding of Marian theology as key to the Church’s understanding of its innermost given character and the basis for its external mission.  It invites the present Church to re-understand and promulgate the Marian foundational act of faith upon which the Church depends.

Session 7 - Democracy

Dr James M. Carr, author of the Catholic University of America published, Catholicism and Liberal Democracy. Forgotten Roots and Future Prospects (2023) (based in Ireland) 

“Catholicism in the public discourse of modern liberal democracy”

Is there a place for Catholicism in the public discourse of modern liberal democracy, bringing secular liberalism, as articulated by Jürgen Habermas, into conversation with the Catholic tradition? This paper explores three aspects of the Catholic tradition relevant to this debate: the Church’s response to democracy from the nineteenth century up until the eve of the Second Vatican Council; the Council’s engagement with modernity, in particular through Gaudium et spes and Dignitatis humanae; and Joseph Ratzinger’s theology of politics as a particularly incisive (and influential) articulation of the Catholic tradition in this area.

Session 8 - The Human Being

Dr Mary Frances McKenna, Fellow, Centre for Marian Studies, UK (based in Ireland)

“Ratzinger on the Truly Human”

This paper expores Ratzinger's theological description of the human being that explicates the Christian tradition in a manner designed to be comprehensible for modernity and offers pathways to address open questions within that tradition. In that way, he creates new dynamism to develop and thereby deepen that tradition. To consider Ratzinger’s thought on the human being as the image of God I will first look at his presentation of the meaning and implications for the human being to be created. I will then examine what he understands to be the meaning of humanity’s Fall and redemption through Jesus Christ, the final Adam. To conclude, I will explore Ratzinger’s reflection on the theological notion of person in which he asserts that Christ lacks nothing in his humanity in having only one person, and that person in Christ is not an ontological exception unique to Christ, but, that person is fully applicable to humanity through Christ. What will become evident is that Ratzinger presents the human being as created by God as a creature whose highest potential is disclosed in the person of Jesus Christ. 

Dr Gaven Kerr, Lecturer in Philosophy, Pontifical University Maynooth, Ireland 

“A Thomist Consideration of Ratzinger’s Theological Notion of Person” 

This paper will offer a Thomist consideration of Ratzinger's 1973 article on the Theological Notion of Person. There Ratzinger develops Richard of St Victor's thought on the theological notion of person. He offers an answer to the question: “What does the formula mean positively, ‘Christ has two natures in one person?’” Ratzinger presents an Bonaventurian influenced Augustinian assessment of the Church's understanding of Jesus Christ as one divine person in two natures and how it can be further developed. The Thomist consideration will explore open questions and future possibilities of Ratzinger's contribution to the theological notion of person.

Session 9 - Personalism

Dr Andrew Meszaros, Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Faculty of Theology, Maynooth Pontifical University Ireland 

“Personalism and Doctrine in Joseph Ratzinger”

The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum is rightly lauded for its holistic presentation of revelation as the self-communication of God in history through words and deeds. But there has been a distinct tendency in post-conciliar fundamental theology to juxtapose the personalism of Dei Verbum with pre-conciliar so-called “propositionalist” understandings of revelation. As a consequence, the very notion of “doctrine” as a proposition that communicates a truth of the Catholic faith has come under critique. This paper will consider a variety of Church teachings and identify those instances in the works of Joseph Ratzinger where he highlights the personalist dimension in each; this will include a consideration of those doctrines where the personalist dimension seems, prima facie, obscure. The paper is but one step in a larger argument that tries to show that doctrinal truth it critical for the Christian’s personal relationship with God.