Church, Ecumenism and Politics: New Endeavors in Ecclesiology
Overview
Church, Ecumenism and Politics features the most discussed topics of the life of the church, treated with unique frankness and depth by the church’s spiritual and theological leader. In this collection of essays, theologian Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, tackles three major issues in the church today—the nature of the church, the pursuit of Christian unity, and the relationship of Christianity to the secular/political power.
The first part of the book explores Vatican II’s teaching on the church, what it means to call the church “the people of God,” the role of the pope, and the synod of bishops. In part two, Ratzinger frankly assesses the ecumenical movement—its achievements, problems, and principles for authentic progress toward Christian unity. In the third part of the work, Ratzinger discusses both fundamental questions and particular issues concerning the church, the state and human fulfillment in the age to come. What does the Bible say about faith and politics? How should the church work in pluralistic societies? What are the problems with liberation theology? How should we understand freedom in the church and in society?
Beneath a penetrating analysis on these important topics by this brilliant teacher and writer, both concise and also surprising, is revealed the passion of a great spiritual leader. The result is an exciting and stimulating work, which can be provoking, but never boring.
With the Logos Bible Software edition of Church, Ecumenism and Politics, 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.
- Foreword by the author
- Bibliographical references
Top Highlights
“‘The Church is awakening in people’s souls.’ This statement by Guardini was very carefully formulated, for what mattered to him was precisely the fact that the Church was now being recognized and experienced as something interior that does not stand opposite us like some sort of equipment but, rather, is alive within us. Whereas until then the Church had been viewed mainly as a structure and an organization, now it dawned on Catholics: We ourselves are the Church; she is more than an organization, she is an organism of the Holy Spirit, a living thing that encompasses all of us from within. This new awareness of Church found verbal expression in the term ‘Mystical Body of Christ’” (Page 13)
“For him the Church withdrew into the congregation: only the assembly that hears the Word of God at any particular place is Church. That is why he completely replaced the word ‘Church’ with the word ‘congregation’ or ‘community’; Church became a negative concept.” (Page 19)
“Church cannot be made but only received, that is to say, received from a source where she already exists and really exists: from the sacramental communion of his Body as it makes its way through history.” (Page 20)
“But he is also only one everywhere, and therefore I can have the one Lord only in the unity that he himself is, in the unity with the others who are also his Body and are supposed to become it ever anew in the Eucharist. Therefore, the unity among themselves of the communities that celebrate the Eucharist is not an external addition to eucharistic ecclesiology; rather, it is its inner prerequisite: only in unity is the One. In this respect, the Council exhorts the communities to be responsible for themselves and yet rules out all self-sufficiency.” (Page 20)
In tricky theological disputes, Pope Benedict XVI separates the wheat from the chaff—a gift for precision that defines this compendium of his thought on ecclesiology and ecumenism. Dating from the 1970s and 1980s, the essays, interviews and lectures contained in this book remain highly relevant. Careful distinctions are his winnowing fork as he cuts through the confusion to identify what is orthodox and heterodox in the important controversies of our time.
—George Neumayr, editor, Catholic World Report
In this wonderful collection of essays, Pope Benedict XVI offers to us a sophisticated, though accessible, understanding of the relationship between politics, the church, and the differing religious communities that encounter one another across the globe. The vision that the pope imparts is one that supports religious liberty without entailing theological relativism. He shows us that one can take theology and ecclesiology seriously, as authoritative knowledge traditions, without rejecting the best insights of Enlightenment liberalism.
—Francis J. Beckwith, associate professor of philosophy and church-state studies, Baylor University
- Title: Church, Ecumenism and Politics: New Endeavors in Ecclesiology
- Author: Joseph Ratzinger
- Translator: Michael J. Miller
- Publisher: Ignatius
- Publication Date: 2008
- Pages: 250