God’s Word: Scripture, Tradition, Office

by Pope Benedict XVI

Publisher:

Ignatius

, 2008

Overview

In this book Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI’s, presents the Word of God as a living reality in the Church. God’s Word, according to Ratzinger, is encountered in the Bible, in Tradition, and through the teaching office of the bishop, who, through apostolic succession, is to be the servant of and witness to the divine Word. Ratzinger examines as well the relationship between the episcopacy and the papacy. He also considers the nature of apostolic succession, and he responds to Reformed objections to the Catholic view of the subject. His treatment is sympathetic to the concerns of non-Catholic Christians while remaining faithful to Catholic teaching and practice.

This book also includes the famous Erasmus Lecture of Cardinal Ratzinger, which assesses the strengths and weaknesses of modern critical approaches to biblical interpretation. Ratzinger proposes a new approach that avoids the pitfalls of a narrowly critical outlook on the Bible without succumbing to fundamentalism.

God’s Word provides profound insights into Pope Benedict XVI’s efforts to renew the Church’s participation in God’s truth through the divine Word, as well as the Church’s mission to proclaim the Word to all people.

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Key Features

• Presents the Word of God as a living reality in the Church
• Examines the relationship between the episcopacy and the papacy
• Considers the nature of apostolic succession
• Provides profound biblical teaching for both Protestants and Catholics

Contents

• Primacy, Episcopacy, and Successio Apostolica
• The Question of the Concept of Tradition: A Provisional Response
• Biblical Interpretation in Conflict

Top Highlights

“The succession is the form of the tradition, and the tradition is the content of the succession” (Page 28)

“Scripture is not revelation but, in any case, is only a part of this greater reality.” (Page 53)

“Tradition’ is indeed never a simple and anonymous handing on of teaching, but is linked to a person, is a living word, that has its concrete reality in faith.” (Page 23)

“Can the word be handed over to the Church without having to fear that it will lose its own life and power under the shears of the Magisterium or amid the uncontrolled growth of the sensus fidelium? That is the Protestant’s question to the Catholic. Can the word be set up as independent, without handing it over to the arbitrariness of the exegete, to be emptied in the disputes of historians, and thus to the complete loss of normative authority?” (Page 46)

“The Bible that has freed itself from dogma has become a document about the past and, thereby, itself belongs to the past.” (Page 99)

Praise for the Print Edition

The calm, clear, and precise teaching that has characterized the theological work of Joseph Ratzinger as peritus, archbishop, prefect, and pope is placed before the Christian reader in this newly republished volume, God’s Word: Scripture, Tradition, Office. Both refreshing and prophetic, this writing lays the groundwork for the two great initiatives that Pope Benedict XVI has stated are the top priorities of his pontificate, evangelization and ecumenism. Bypassing the bland contemporary approach that reduces these noble objectives to mere niceness, this book faces the problems that, if resolved, will make possible the ‘New Evangelization’ envisioned by Pope John Paul II and the ‘full and visible unity of all Christ’s followers’ so desired by Pope Benedict XVI himself. This book, though not light reading, will be of interest and inspiration to all Christians who honestly seek truth and unity.

—Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz

This book brings together three important treatises on the issue of Scripture and Tradition from the pen of one of the greatest theologians ever to hold the papal office. Written with clarity and insight, this book helps us to trace the development of this important theme in Catholic theology since Vatican II, and it also opens up fruitful avenues of ecumenical advance. A little masterpiece!

—Timothy George, founding dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

Product Details

• Title: God’s Word: Scripture, Tradition, Office
• Author: Joseph Ratzinger
• Editors: Peter Hünermann and Thomas Söding
• Translator: Henry Taylor
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 126
• Christian Group: Catholic
• Resource Type: Monographs
• Topic: Creeds, Councils, Confessions, and Catechisms

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.