JON-II on the Resurrection:
Benedict XVI's next bestseller
by Franca Giansoldati
Translated from
August 23, 2010
If Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's first volume on JESUS OF NAZARETH was a worldwide publishing success, volume 2 which will focus on his Passion, death and Resurrection, cannot be less.
That book will come out during the first week of Lent in 2011, it is now known.
It consists of nine chapters, and starts with a narration based on the Gospel of Luke, of Jesus's last entry into Jerusalem, a triumphal one, amid celebrating crowds, Hosannahs and palms, with the city on the hill in the background as a metaphor for a better place.
The title of the second volume has not been decided on - it could be "The Risen One" or "The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth".
In any case, it will be published on a worldwide scale, with simultaneous launchings in all the major language editions.
The Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV), anticipates a mammoth first printing - at least 2.5 million copies in the various languages.
Fr. Giuseppe Costa, the Salesian director of LEV, is the chief organizer who holds all the reins of this unprecedented publication undertaking.
The first concern has been to have the most faithful translation possible of the Pope's original German text, which is rich and dense with meaning, although it is written in Benedict's now familiar language, which is simply, crystal clear and devoid of frills.
And this will be done initially in about 20 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Lithuanian ["Not Arabic at this time, though we may be requested for it eventually"). The translation has been entrusted to experienced linguists at the Secretariat of State who, it is thought, will be able to convey the full theological sense of the text without changing, modifying or distorting it.
Fr. Costa believes that this is much better than the previous practice of farming out the job to professional translators who were not always at home with theological concepts, which led to many unnecessary delays until proper translations were made.
Fr. Costa is in Rimini at the C&L 31st annual Meeting for Friendship among peoples to present the first volume (
The Theology of the Liturgy) in the Italian edition of Joseph Ratzinger's
Complete Works.
"In Septmber, there will be a meeting to review the progress of the translation work on the Jesus book," he said. "Their deadline is January 15, 2011".
Another novelty with JON-II is the choice of publishers for the various editions. With JON-I, large publishing houses acquired local distribution rights, but this time, "We have chosen small Catholic publishing houses who will be capable of following through even after the book is launched, to keep local interest alive in the reflections of the Pope," Fr. Costa said.
"We do not wish the book to be treated like any other book because it is very much more than that. It is an instrument for those who are searching for a sense of faith and the meaning of life".
Having finished about two years of work on JON-II earlier this year, the Holy Father apparently wasted no time in starting a third volume - previously not anticipated - dedicated to the infancy and pre-public life of Jesus.
He continues to draft all his texts by hand, which are dutifully transcribed by the two German women who have worked him him for over two decades and can read his tiny script - Brigid Wansing and Ingrid Stampa.
No one can say when the JESUS trilogy will be completed, but very likely, JESUS OF NAZARETH will go down in history as Benedict XVI's most important work. In many ways, it is his spiritual testament.
5 US publishers working on
'Complete Works' in English
Rimini, Italy, Aug 23, 2010 (Adapted from EWTN News) - Five U.S. publishing houses are working to publish the complete works of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in English.
The news comes as the first Italian language installment of the extensive body of the cardinal's teachings on the liturgy was presented at an interfaith meeting in Italy on Sunday.
At the moment, the first few volumes of the 16-volume
opera omnia or Complete Works of Joseph Ratzinger are out only in German
Gesammelte Schriften, Herder), the language in which they were originally written.
The first Italian installment focusing on Cardinal Ratzinger's thoughts on the liturgy was presented on the opening day yesterday of the weeklong annual Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples sponsored by the movement Comunione e Liberazione in Rimini, Italy.
Although it is the first to be printed, it is actually the eleventh book of in the series, but it was Pope Benedict's choice to start publication with the volume on liturgy.
The cover note explains that the book is dedicated to the theme of liturgy because it is "in the relationship with the liturgy that the destiny of the faith and the Church is decided."
The series' German-language publisher, Bishop Gerhard Muller of Regensburg, representing the Papst Benedikt XVI Institut, participated in the "Theology of the Liturgy" session in Rimini.
The first four titles out in German by Oct. 2011: After the Theology of Liturgy, the volume on St. Bonaventure, which contains Prof. Ratzinger's entire Habilitation dissertation, including Part 1 which he had suppressed to meet his thesis adviser's objections, now published for the first time); his writings on ecclesiology adn ecumenism, in two volumes; and the theology and spirituality of the Sacraments, out this fall.
Msgr. Giuseppe Costa, the director of the Vatican's publishing house, was also at the presentation. He said five publishers in the U.S. are working simultaneously to publish the complete works, which comprise some 20,000 pages of essays, homilies and lessons.
Msgr. Costa made it clear that the Complete Works "do not relate to his teachings as Pope, but his writings, his teachings, and his interviews before he became Pope".
Benedict XVI's texts as Pope are published in the Vatican's regular compilations of papal texts called
Insegnamenti (Teachings) published annually, of which five volumes covering 2005-2009 have already been published.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/08/2010 13:41]