Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-21T10:53:13.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“Words Enfleshing the Word”: Joseph Ratzinger on the Prophetic Interpretation of Revelation in the Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Mary McCaughey
Mary McCaughey*
Affiliation:
St Mary's College
*
Oscott, Chester Road, Sutton Coldfield, B73 5AA, UK. mary.mccaughey@oscott.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper begins by exploring how Joseph Ratzinger's post-doctoral work on the Theology of History in St Bonaventure is shaped by his interest in how theology can be grounded in salvation history. Through this lens, he examines Bonaventure's multi-form theories of scripture and the place of St Francis in salvation history to show how prophetic interpretations of scripture are consistent with Christ as the apex of history. The paper goes on to demonstrate that these insights also influence Ratzinger's later work, particularly his reading of Dei Verbum, his recognition of the Mariological dimensions of hermeneutics, as well as his consideration of various prophetical manifestations of the life of the Church such as the monastic movement and the new ecclesial movements.

Keywords

RatzingerBonaventurescripturerevelationmagisterium
Type
Catholic Theological Association 2019 Conference Papers
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 101 , Issue 1092 , March 2020 , pp. 206 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Ratzinger, Joseph, The Theology of History in St Bonaventure (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1971), p. 4Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., p. 168, footnote, 17.

3 See Ayres, Lewis, Kelly, Patricia and Humphries, Thomas, ‘Benedict XVI, A Ressourcement theologian?’ in Flynn, Gabriel, ed., Ressourcement: A Movement for Renewal in Twentieth Century Catholic Theology (Oxford: OUP, 2011), p. 423CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Ratzinger, The Theology of History in St Bonaventure, p. 3.

5 Ibid., p. 22.

6 See Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana (Oxford: OUP, 1997).

7 See De Lubac, Henri Medieval Exegesis, Vol 1: Four Senses of Scripture (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2000), pp. 132-135Google Scholar.

8 Ratzinger, The Theology of History in St Bonaventure, p. 7.

9 Ibid., p. 7.

10 Ibid., p. 9.

11 Ibid., p. 86.

12 Ibid., p. 9.

13 Ibid., p. 83.

14 Ibid., p. 83.

15 Ibid., p. 9.

16 Ibid., p. 31.

17 Ibid., p. 42.

18 Ibid., p. 55.

19 Ibid., p. 35.

20 Ibid., p. 32.

21 Ibid., p. 40.

22 Ratzinger, , Gesammelte Schriften: Offenbarungs-Verständnis und Geschichts-Theologie Bonaventuras (Freiburg, Basel, Vienna: Herder, 2009), p. 106Google Scholar.

23 Ibid., p. 107.

24 Ratzinger, The Theology of History in St Bonaventure, p. 59.

25 Ibid., p. 60. uniformis, multiformis, omniformis and nulliformis.

26 Ibid., p. 61.

27 Ibid., p. 71.

28 For a summary of this, Ratzinger refers to J.R. Geiselmann, Lebendiger Glaube aus geheiligter Überleiferung (1942) in Ratzinger, ‘Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Origin and Background,’ in Herbert Vorgrimler, ed., Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, Vol III (Freiburg, Basel, Vienna: Herder, 1967), pp.155-262, and especially p. 184, footnote 9.

29 Ratzinger, The Theology of History in St Bonaventure, p. 80.

30 Ibid., p. 83.

31 Ibid., p. 82.

32 Ibid., p. 82.

33 Ratzinger, , Dogma and Preaching: Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2011), p. 37Google Scholar.

34 Ratzinger, , Church, Ecumenism and Politics, New Essays in Ecclesiology (London: St Paul Publications, 1988), pp. 129-130 (note 13)Google Scholar.

35 Ratzinger, Dogma and Preaching, p. 37.

36 Ratzinger, , The Nature and Mission of Theology (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995), p. 63Google Scholar.

37 Ratzinger, Dogma and Preaching, p. 36.

38 Pope Benedict XVI, ‘Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the International Theological Commission on the Occasion of its Annual Plenary Assembly,’ Friday, 7 December 2012, accessed 10 October 2019,

http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2012/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20121207_cti.html

39 See Kaes, Dorothee, Theologie im Anspruch von Geschichte und Wahrheit (St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 1997), p. 3Google Scholar.

40 Ratzinger, ‘Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Origin and Background’, p. 188.

41 Ratzinger, ‘Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation’, p. 187.

42 See Collins, Christopher, The Word Made Love: The Dialogical Theology of Joseph Ratzinger (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2013), p. 46Google Scholar.

43 Ratzinger, “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,” p. 192.

44 Ibid., p. 194.

45 Ratzinger, The Theology of History in St Bonaventure, p. 67.

46 Ratzinger, “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,” p. 186.

47 Ibid., p. 187.

48 Ibid., p. 186.

49 Ratzinger, , Principles of Catholic Theology, Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1987), pp. 176-179Google Scholar.

50 See Ratzinger, , ‘Biblical Interpretation in Crisis: On the Question of the Foundations and Approaches of Exegesis Today’, in Neuhaus, R. J., ed., Biblical Interpretation in Crisis: the Ratzinger Conference on Bible and Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1989)Google Scholar.

51 Ratzinger, , The Nature and Mission of Theology: Essays to Orient Theology in Today's Debates (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995), p. 62Google Scholar.

52 Ratzinger, , Die Sakramentale Begründung christlicher Existenz, 4th ed. (Friesing: Kyrios, 1973), p. 20Google Scholar.

53 Ibid.

54 Ratzinger, and von Balthasar, Hans Urs, Mary: the Church at the Source (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), p. 44Google Scholar.

55 Ratzinger, Mary: The Church at the Source, p. 44.

56 Ratzinger, , ‘The Church and Scientific Theology’, Communio 7, no. 4 (Winter 1980), p. 340Google Scholar.

57 Ratzinger, , Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millienium, An Interview with Peter Seewald (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1996), p. 62Google Scholar.

58 Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology, p. 350.

59 Ratzinger, Mary: The Church at the Source, pp. 49-58.

60 Ratzinger, , ‘Sources and transmission of the faith,’ Communio 10, no.1 (Spring 1983), p. 28Google Scholar.

61 Ratzinger, , New Outpourings of the Spirit (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2007), pp. 45-46Google Scholar.

62 Ratzinger, New Outpourings of the Spirit, p. 42.

63 Ibid., p. 32.

64 Ibid., p. 38.

65 Ibid., pp. 45-46.

66 Ibid., p. 48.

67 See how Ratzinger uses the logos as a premise for discerning points of dialogue in intercultural and inter-religious relations in Ratzinger, , Truth and Tolerance, Christian Belief and World Religions (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2004), pp. 64; 182Google Scholar.