Here are a couple of informal reviews of the book from the blogging world - by two people who like it primarily because it is a good read all throughout, and heartily ask of everyone, as every sensible person would, to stop already with the condoms! There's so much more in the book.... Brandon Vogt is a 24-year-old Catholic engineer from Florida; and B16 followers know all about the Curt Jester...
The Pope is always charitable
and articulates his answers well
by Brandon Vogt
Nov. 29, 2010
By now, whether through secular or religious outlets, you’ve likely heard about a recent book-length interview with Pope Benedict XVI titled
Light of the World (Ignatius Press, 256 pages, hardback). This book presents the third extensive interview between the Pope and journalist Peter Seewald, the first two coming before Benedict was Pope.
Light of the World has generated some serious controversy over a few obscure paragraphs in the middle of its 256 pages. In these paragraphs, the Pope is asked about the Church’s position on condoms. He answers by re-articulating the Church’s traditional position that contraception is inherently counter to true sexuality, but in some cases condoms may be a step toward a deeper morality.
The travesty is that this book will now be known only for these couple of paragraphs when the book provides so many other fascinating insights.
Light of the World really is a monumental effort, and anyone who reads it cover-to-cover will appreciate how much of a gift it really is. Never before has a Pope granted such an in-depth interview, nor directly answered so many challenging questions in rapid succession.
Seewald — whom
The Irish Times nicknamed the “pope whisperer” —is great at formulating these inquiries, pulling no punches along the way. He poses questions that are straight-forward, even borderline accusatory at times, such as:
•What caused the sexual-abuse scandal in the Church?
•Have you considered resigning?
•What do you think about the global climate crisis?
•Can there be dialogue with Islam?
•Is Christianity the only truth?
•Should there be a Third Vatican Council?
Pope Benedict’s answers are characteristically
charitable, intelligent, and well-articulated, even including a little humor here and there. He speaks here as a wise sage whose wisdom has been built and refined over many years.
But even with the clarity shared between both men,
Light of the World has its difficulties. The book was compiled, translated, and published in such a short amount of time — the interview took place in July 2010 — that it does lack some finish. At times, clunky punctuation choices, like periods instead of commas and sentences lacking subjects, make the reading slightly awkward.
Also, while the material is organized into eighteen distinct chapters, the questions within each chapter are fairly haphazard. For instance, a question about ‘communion on the tongue’ is followed by a question on ‘women’s liberation’, then a discussion on ‘church attendance’ statistics. However, this disordered structure does create lively, fast-paced reading as the topics jump quickly from one to another.
One of the most helpful parts of the book is the Appendix, which features snippets from some of Benedict’s most contentious statements: his letter to Irish Catholics regarding the abuse scandal, his Regensburg address which riled many Muslims, and his earlier statements regarding the Church’s position towards condoms and AIDs (which Light of the World embellishes, not contradicts).
Following these excerpts, there is also a lengthy chronicle of important events from Benedict’s life and pontificate. Both the excerpts and the timeline provide good background to the statements and events referenced during the interview.
Overall,
Light of the World is truly a special book, and deserves a better fate than to be known as “the condom book”. Seewald draws some intriguing answers from Pope Benedict on many of the most controversial topics of our time.
This book should be welcomed as a rare look into the typically secluded halls of the Vatican. For a bird's-eye view of the Church and a peek into Pope Benedict’s thought, pick up a copy of
Light of the World.
I took the liberty of abridging the following post slightly and have placed ellipsis points wherever I did so:
'Now there is even more
I love about the Pope'
by Jeff Miller
splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/
Nov. 25, 2010
I have sometimes wondered as a convert what it would be like to have been a cradle Catholic and to have studied and lived the faith throughout my life. To have fully interiorized the faith.
If I were a lot more intelligent, I would get an idea of this what this would be like from the Pope’s latest book, by the answers he gives to journalist Petere Seewald.
This is the third interview book he has done with Seewald who talked with the Pope for an hour each time over six days… There has been much controversy over the Pope’s answer to one question… Catholic convert Marshall McLuhan once wrote, “The medium is the message” to which I have often added that “Media misses the message.”
Having read the previous two Seevald books along with the most of Cardinal Ratzinger’s writings, one gets a sense of the man who has not changed in any important way as Pope.
His honesty and humility are shown throughout the book, and he does not allow the interviewer to maker larger claims on what he has achieved than is warranted.
Seewald would make factual claims about the size of the Church numerically, and of the power of the Pope, but Benedict XVI reminds him that while membership is numerically large, the number of people living the Catholic faith is much smaller. Of course, he also dismisses any claim to power. While Pope Benedict XVI has great gifts, he realizes who those gifts are from.
Throughout the book the Pope’s replies are very direct and at the same time fully eloquent. While reading it, I often wished that others would imitate the Pope’s honesty in replying to question without the slightest hint of spin or building himself up.
There are also very human and funny moments in the book. His reply to why he wore the camauro once is hilarious, and a warning to those who would over-interpret what the Pope wears….
Some of his feelings upon becoming Pope have been expressed before, but this book brings out more… He really was surprised to be elected Pope, and like so many times in his life, he once again turned himself over fully to Christ…
He talks about his relationship with Pope John Paul II - it was his book
Introduction to Christianity that led the Pope to seek out Joseph Ratzinger to head the CDF.
Like much of Catholicism, his answers are are of the ‘both/and’ type [et-et]…. About the Church and secularism, for instance, he says we must know what we could learn from secularism and what we must oppose.
Peter Seewald as interviewer is also a major part of what makes the book enjoyable... Seewald as always has done his homework, having been a close watcher of the Pope and what he has written and said for more than decade.
This brings out a range of topics and important questions that a less skilled interviewer could not even approach. The only negative would be that Seewald has a view of global warming almost apocalyptic… But the Pope in answering them does not take the same tone… even if it is clear the Pope is concerned about manmade global warming.
While the interview considers several controversies, this is a book mostly about Jesus and his Church - of following Christ closely and seeing Jesus as the one who comes. These sections of the book won’t generate any headlines, but they are meant to generate saints.
The Pope is, first of all, a disciple of Jesus, and one who sees his very life as bringing Jesus to others in his role as Pope to the world.
When he does address various controversies, his discipleship is evident… In the sexual abuse crisis… he sees the evil directly… There is an empathy in his tone that cannot be faked.
On the argument that Jesus couldn’t ordain women only because of the culture of his time, the Pope says “Nonsense!” – that in fact, the religions of the time all had priestesses.
He gives a fuller answer to the reasons for lifting the excommunication of the four FSSPX bishops than I have seen before, and he reitrrates that somebody should have checked the internet…
Oh and the Pope said something about condoms!
This book was a wonderful read which I admit to binge-reading the moment it came in the mail. I thought I could hardly love the Pope more, but now there is even more I love about him.
It is almost silly to review a book from our Pope. Really the review should be: Just go out and buy it or obtain a copy immediately from a library, etc. Those with ebook readers can buy a DRM-free version of the book from Ignatius Press, download the audio version, and, of course, get the book itself.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/11/2010 23:46]