Behold the Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology

by Pope Benedict XVI

Publisher:

Ignatius

, 1986

Overview

In this profound and illuminating work, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, better known as Pope Benedict XVI, turns the gaze of an accomplished theologian upon the crucified Savior. This synthetic and meditative work is theological without being abstract or dry, and spiritual without being sentimental. The pierced heart of Christ must be the heart of theology and Christian life as well.

Proceeding from the prayerful dialogue between the incarnate Son and his eternal Father, Joseph Ratzinger shows how one can approach the mystery of the heart of Christ only through the imitation of this prayer. To know and understand Jesus, we must participate in his prayer. The prayer of Christ must be the interior life of all who are joined to him in his body, the church. Using the Old and New Testaments and the Church Fathers, Ratzinger shows that the ecclesial community (the church) was born from the pierced heart of Christ on the cross.

With the Logos Bible Software edition of Behold the Pierced One, you have an abundance of resources that offer applicable and insightful material for study. You can easily search the subject of Christian unity and access an assortment of useful resources and perspectives from a variety of pastors and theologians.

Key Features

• Preface by the author
• Collection of christological meditations and reflections

Contents

Top Highlights

“The fundamental act of religion is prayer, which in the Christian religion acquires a very specific character: it is the act of self-surrender by which we enter the Body of Christ. Thus it is an act of love. As love, in and with the Body of Christ, it is always both love of God and love of neighbor, knowing and fulfilling itself as love for the members of this Body.” (Pages 25–26)

“It must be complemented by the theology of the saints, which is theology from experience. All real progress in theological understanding has its origin in the eye of love and in its faculty of beholding.” (Page 27)

“Jesus made the old People of God into a new People by adopting those who believe in him into the community of his own self (of his ‘Body’).” (Page 30)

“Luke suggests that the whole of Christology—our speaking of Christ—is nothing other than the interpretation of his prayer: the entire person of Jesus is contained in his prayer.” (Page 20)

“Death, which, by its very nature, is the end, the destruction of every communication, is changed by him into an act of self-communication; and this is man’s redemption, for it signifies the triumph of love over death.” (Page 25)

Product Detail

• Title: Behold the Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology
• Author: Joseph Ratzinger
• Translator: Graham Harrison
• Publisher: Ignatius
• Publication Date: 1986
• Pages: 128

About Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI was the 265th pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected on 19 April 2005 in a papal conclave, celebrated his Papal Inauguration Mass on 24 April 2005, and took possession of his cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, on 7 May 2005. A native of Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI has both German and Vatican citizenship.