e u l a m a       

 

 

Grundsatz-Reden aus fünf Jahrzehnten

Basic Speeches (1963-2004)

Edited by Florian Schuller

PUSTET, 2005, 214 p.

 

‘An insight in Joseph Ratzinger’s thought, spanning from 1963 to 2004. The wide ranging thematic outlook casts light on underlying questions, whose up-to-dateness is made clear on a retrospective.’

 

This book features the eleven conferences held at the Catholic Academy of Bavaria. The speeches are not chronologically, but thematically ordered; this emphasizes their diachronical value. The dialogue of January 2004 between Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and the famous philosopher Jürgen Habermas about “Pre-political moral foundations of a liberal State” (pp. 157-171) makes a fine example, and it was also widely appreciated in Islamic areas.

The first speech of this book, “The primate of the Pope and the unity of God’s people”, is obviously important to understand Benedict’s XVI idea of the Pope’s role and the direction in which his Pontificate will be going.

 

Further sections of the book are:

 

  • The Credo
  • On the Church
  • On the worldwide assignment of Christian faith
  • On Romano Guardini.

 

Each speech has a short preface, outlining it’s context, by the editor of the book.

 

 

Joseph Ratzinger was born in Markl am Inn in 1927. He has worked as a professor in catholic theology in Freising, Bonn, Münster, Tübingen and Regensburg. A leading theologian since Vatican Council in 1962, in 1977 he was designed to be the successor of Cardinal Döpfner as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, and in 1981 he was designed Prefect of the Faith Congregation, the central unit for the interpretation and the defence of Christian teachings.

He published ‘Salz Der Erde’ (‘The Earth’s Salt’) in 1996, which became an international best-seller. On the 19.th April.2005 he was declared Pope choosing the name of Benedict XVI.

 

 

 

Joseph Ratzinger, 1927 in Markl am Inn geboren, war Professor für katholische Theologie in Freising, Bonn, Münster, Tübingen und Regensburg. Ab 1962 einer der führenden Konzilstheologen, wurde er 1977 Nachfolger von Kardinal Döpfner als Erzbischof von München und Freising, 1981 dann zum Präfekten der Glaubenskongregation ernannt, der zentralen Instanz für die Interpretation und die Verteidigung der kirchlichen Lehre. Von Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger erschien 1996 der internationale Bestseller 'Salz der Erde'. Am 19.04.2005 wurde er zum Papst gewählt und gab sich den Namen Benedikt XVI.

 

Klappentext:Ein Einblick in das Denken Joseph Ratzingers von 1963 bis 2004. Das weit gespannte Themenspektrum beleuchtet grundsätzliche Fragen, deren Aktualität und Brisanz im Rückblick deutlich hervortritt.