The Theology of Joseph Ratzinger: Nuclear Ideas

Abstract

After a brief historical excursus, on Ratzinger’s masters and the historical sources of theology, I make reference to what I call the sources of his theology: Scripture, liturgy, the Church and the arts constitute starting points for his theology. Later come the so-called basics: first, the person, who presents his or her solidarity with faith and reason, truth and love. Ratzinger is deeply marked by the “experience of the Council”, the doctrine of which applies to ecumenism, the theology of the ministry and even ideas on preaching, eschatology and mariology. So, here I address the area of praxis: as a bishop, Ratzinger has developed his preaching on the theology of creation and the eucharistic mystery and, as prefect, his focus of interest has broadened towards the catechism, Christ and other religions, without forgetting a brief reflection on the Christian roots of Europe.