ALWAYS AND EVER OUR MOST BELOVED BENEDICTUS XVI
This time last year, I posted this item a few days late after the event....
The Collected Writings of Joseph Ratzinger:
Volume I - his doctoral dissertation on Augustine -
is the 7th of 16 volumes published in German so far
by Jan Bentz
Translated from the German service of
ROME, March 15 (ZENIT) - The German embassy building in the Parioli quarter of Rome was the splendid setting for the presentation yesterday afternoon of Volume i in the
Gesammelte Schriften (Collected Writings) of Joseph Ratzinger.
Dr. Reinhard Schweppe, the German ambassador to the Holy See, had invited Mons. Gerhard Mueller, Bishop of Regensburg, to present the latest volume of the Collected Works, the seventh of the 16-voiume work to have been published -after Volumes 2, 7, 8/1, 8/2, 10, 11 and 12. It came out in Germany last August. (The volumes, which present Joseph Ratzinger's writings chronologically, have been released according to a thematic sequence decided by the Pope himself.)
Volume 1 is Joseph Ratzinger's 1951 doctoral dissertation entitled
Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustinus Lehre von der Kirche
(The People and the House of God in Augustine's Teachings about the Church).
The next volume to be released in a few weeks will be that which puts together all of Joseph Ratzinger's writings about the Second Vatican Council.
Among the prominent guests present were Cardinal Walter Brandmueller, a Church historian; Mons, Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg and president of the German bishops' conference; a number of Curial prelates, representatives of leading German publications, and Vatican Radio.
After a short garden reception, Ambassador Schweppe thanked everyone for their presence and interest in the first scientific writing of theologian Ratzinger.
Mons. Mueller, publisher of the Collected Writings as president of the Regensburg-based Isntitut Benedikt XVI, began the presentation with a lecture on the unity of the Church in the Eucharist as seen in the works of St. Augustine, saying that the teaching and thought of the great 5th century theologian-bishop had influenced Church history like no other in his time.
In 1950, Joseph Ratzinger was asked by his Professor Gottlieb Soehngen to look into Augustine's ecclesiology, particularly his concept of 'the People of God', which was a major concept in the Council of Trent.
The young Ratzinger, who was already an Augustinian scholar, worked on his dissertation between July 1950 and March 1951 and arrived at a new conclusion: that in Augustine, the idea of the 'People of God' was "in accordance with Sacred Scripture, the designation for Israel as the chosen people".
But the people called by Christ to be the Church, are also 'a body'. The key text is 1 Corinthians 10, 17: "Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf."
Thus the Church is also "a communion of believers in Christ in the unity of the Eucharistic Body that transforms us into Christ". Or, as Mueller formulates it, "The Church lives from the Eucharist and in the Eucharist becomes the Body of Christ".
This teaching was also reiterated in the Second Vatican Council - that the Church is the community of those who celebrate together the Lord's Supper. Thus, the present Pope, with his first important theological work, had highlighted the eucharistic approach of Augustine.
In this respect, Mons. Mueller pointed out that many of Benedict XVI's discourses, including those he delivered in Germany last year, on
the idea of Entweltlichung (demondanization) - ridding the Church of worldliness - were 'innovative and inspiring', even 'unexpected', to those who do not know the Pope's intentions.
But the Pope thereby simply intended to show that the Church, amidst still existing 'worldly orders', must assert 'the new strength of faith in the unity of men within the Body of Christ, as a n element of transformation whose form God himself will create".
[I am not at all familiar with Mons. Mueller's writings as a theologian, but his attempts to paraphrase or to re-state Joseph Ratzinger's ideas,at least as quoted here, seem to me rather heavy-handed and quite unlike the clarity of Joseph Ratzinger himself. It's rather like OR editor Vian's awkward and uneasy attempts to paraphrase the Pope in his editorials.]
In this sense, Mueller said that in proclaiming the Christian message, Benedict XVI has always been faithful to himself, as he showed
in Deus caritas est, in which he calls the attention of the faithful that charity, love of one's neighbor, is the vocation of Christians.
Mueller said the 16-volume series presents Joseph Ratzinger's writings to the time he was elected Pope in April 2005 - that Volume i was a central element of the Pope's theological formation, and that the Pope has always remained closely linked to the figure and thinking of St. Augustine.
He ended his intervention by calling on all Christians to rediscover the meaning of being Christian, of communion, Church and Eucharist.
The series co-publisher, Rudolf Voderholzer, professor of dogmatic theology and history of dogma at the Catholic faculty of the University of Trier
[2013 P.S. Benedict XVI named him Bishop of Regensburg last December to succeed Mons. Mueller] completed the presentation with a discussion of the linguistic style of Joseph Ratzinger, who is able to explain even the most complex subjects in a simple and understandable way.
Therefore, he said, the Pope's theological work is accessible even to non-specialists. He said the six homilies of Joseph Ratzinger in the volume's appendix constitute the 'homiletic transposition' of the dissertation and illustrate the Pope's abilities as an intermediary.
To the question of whether the young Ratzinger's work also had to do with the relationship between Jews and Christians, Mueller said that the Church specifically represents the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, but the Jews as 'people of God' still had to take 'the next step' towards Jesus Christ.
But he stressed that the relationship between Judaism and Christianity remains special, because Jesus Christ himself was a Jew in continuity with the 'chosen people', and that in the Church both this continuity with Israel as well as her newness in Christ go together.
He said that the volumes reproduce all the writings of Joseph Ratzinger as they were first published, without modifications, and that it is the Pope himself who has decided on the order in which the volumes of the Collected Writings are published.
The Pope decided the first to be published would be the volume containing his writings about liturgy because of the fundamental importance of liturgy as an expression of the faith. However, Mueller said, obviously not all theologians have read the book, otherwise "the Memorandum issued in 2010 by some 200 theologians from German-speaking countries would never have been written".
A refresher:
The volumes in GESAMMELTE SCHRIFTEN
NB: The volumes in green are those that have already been published in German.
1. Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustins Lehre von der Kirche
Die Dissertation und weitere Studien zu Augustinus von Hippo
(The People and the House of God in Augustine's Teachings on the Church:
Dissertation and further studies on Augustine of Hippo)
2. [Das Offenbarungsverständnis und die Geschichtstheologie Bonaventuras
Die ungekürzte Habilitationsschrift und weitere Bonaventura-Studien
(Revelation and St. Bonaventure's Theology of History:
The unabridged Habilitation dissertation and other studies on Bonaventure)
Published Sept. 2009
3. Der Gott des Glaubens und der Gott der Philosophen
Die wechselseitige Verwiesenheit von fides und ratio
(The God of Faith and the God of Philosophers: The reciprocal relationship between faith and reason)
4. Einführung in das Christentum
Bekenntnis – Taufe – Nachfolge
(Introduction to Christianity: Profession of Faith - Baptism - Discipleship)
5. Herkunft und Bestimmung
Schöpfung – Anthropologie – Mariologie
(Origin and Destiny: Creation - Anthropology- Mariology)
6. Jesus von Nazareth
Spirituelle Christologie
(Jesus of Nazareth: Spiritual Christology)
7. Zur Theologie des Konzils
Texte zum II. Vatikanum
(On the ThEology of the Councl: Texts on Vatican II)
8. Zeichen unter den Völkern
Schriften zur Ekklesiologie und Ökumene
(Signs among Peoples: Writings on Ecclesiology and Ecumenism)
Published in 2 volumes June 2009
9. Offenbarung – Schrift – Tradition
Hermeneutik und Theologische Prinzipienlehre
(Revelation - Scripture - Tradition: Lessons on hermeneutic and theological principles)
10. Auferstehung und Ewiges Leben:
Beiträge zur Eschatologie[
(The Resurrection and Eternal Life: Essays on eschatology)
11. Theologie der Liturgie
Die sakramentale Begründung christlicher Existenz
(The Theology of Liturgy: The sacramental foundation of Christian existence)
Published October 2008 - First volume of the collection to be published
at the express request of the Holy Father
12. Künder des Wortes und Diener eurer Freude
Zur Theologie und Spiritualität des Ordo
(Announcers of the Word and Servants of your Joy: The theology and spirituality of the Ordo)
Published Sept. 2010
13. Im Gespräch mit der Zeit
Interviews – Stellungnahmen – Einsprüche
(In Conversation with the Times: Interviews - Positions - Objections)
14. Predigten zum Kirchenjahr
Meditationen, Gebete, Betrachtungen
(Homilies for the Liturgical Year - Meditations, Prayers, Observations)
15. Aus meinem Leben
Autobiographische Texte
(My Life: Autobiographical Texts)
16. Bibliographie und Gesamt-Register
(Bibliography and Complete Index)
Mons. Mueller presented the Pope with Volumes 8-1 and 8-2 of the German edition in June 2010.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/03/2013 22:22]