• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
he Authority of Mystery:
T Bblcal Tlg  Bndc XVI
1 Scott W. Hahn 2
St. Paul Center for Biblical Teology
Never beore in the history o the Catholic Church has a world-class biblical theo-logian been elevated to the papacy. Te election o Pope Benedict XVI, on April9, , brought to the Chair o St. Peter one o the world’s nest theologicalminds, a public intellectual long engaged in dialogue over the crucial issues o themodern period, especially the relationship between reedom and truth.Te ormer Joseph Ratzinger was a young academic theologian with a verybright uture when, in 9, he was chosen to be archbishop o the historic Bavariandiocese o Munich and Freising. At the time, he expressly identied a continuitybetween his scholarly work and his new service in the hierarchy o the Church,taking or his episcopal motto a biblical expression: “cooperators in the truth.”In practical terms, however, his election to the episcopacy brought to an endhis promising career as an academic theologian. He would seldom again have theopportunity or sustained scholarly research and writing, a situation about whichhe occasionally expresses regret. Nonetheless, in the last quarter-century, Benedicthas produced a substantial body o biblical-theological work—articles, speeches,homilies, and more—that reect the wide range o his study and interests, and thekeen, systematic nature o his thought.Close study o this body o writings suggests that, had Proessor Ratzingerbeen let alone to pursue his scholarly interests and ambitions, his achievementswould have rivaled or surpassed those o the greatest Catholic theologians o thelast century—gures such as Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl Rahner. Tat said,I believe this paper will help us to appreciate that there has been no other Catholic
In explaining his episcopal motto, which is ound in  John , he has said that “it seemed tobe the connection between my previous task as teacher and my new mission. Despite all thedierences in modality, what is involved was and remains the same: to ollow the truth, to beat its service. And, because in today’s world the theme o truth has all but disappeared, becausetruth appears to be too great or man and yet everything alls apart i there is no truth; orthese reasons, this motto also seemed timely in the good sense o the word.” Joseph CardinalRatzinger,
Milestones: Memoirs, 192–19 
, trans. Erasmo Leiva-Merkiakis (San Francisco:Ignatius, 99), .In orewords or aterwords to collections o his articles and talks, he sometimes expressesdisappointment that his proessional obligations make it impossible to develop his ideas assystematically or with the depth and precision that he would like. See, or example, JosephCardinal Ratzinger,
Te Nature and Mission o Teology: Approaches to Understanding Its Role inthe Light o Present Controversy,
trans. Adrian Walker (San Francisco: Ignatius, 99 [OriginalGerman publication, 99]), .
Letter & Spirit
2 (2006): 97
–
140
 
98
Scott W. Hahn
theologian in the last century, i ever, whose theology is as highly developed andintegrated in explicitly biblical terms. We would be hard pressed to nd anotherthinker who has so allowed sacred Scripture to shape and direct his theologizing.Benedict’s command o the biblical texts, the patristic interpretive tradition,and the ndings o historical and literary scholarship, represents the ull oweringo the Catholic biblical renewal promoted by the popes and culminating in
DeiVerbum
, the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on divine revelation. I therst hal o the twentieth century was marked by the
emergence
o three renewalmovements—the biblical, the patristic, and the liturgical, we see the
convergence
 o these movements in
Dei Verbum
; and in the theology o Benedict we see theirintegration and coordination. As the result, perhaps more than any other theo-logian in his time, Benedict has articulated a biblical theology that synthesizesmodern scientic methods with the theological hermeneutic o spiritual exegesisthat began in the New estament writers and patristic commentators and hascontinued throughout the Church’s tradition.His ponticate has thus ar borne the distinctive stamp o his biblical theol-ogy. For Benedict, the Church lives, moves, and takes its being rom the Word o God—through whom all things were created in the beginning, through whom theace o God was revealed in the esh o Jesus Christ, and through whom God’s newcovenant is witnessed to in the inspired texts o Scripture and made present in thedivine liturgy.In the context o the liturgy, Benedict has spoken o “the authority o mys-tery.” But this is also an evocative expression or describing his integral vision o the Church as the handmaiden o the Word o God. Te Church, as he sees it,lives under the authority o mystery—in dialogue with the Word that revealed themystery o God’s saving plan in history, and in obedient service to the Word as itseeks nal accomplishment o God’s plan in the lie and age o the Church.In what ollows, I will explore the oundations and essential principles o Benedict’s biblical vision. Ater a brie overview o his academic and ecclesial career,I will consider Benedict’s critique o the methods and presumptions o historicaland literary criticism o the Bible. I will then consider the key elements o whathe calls a “hermeneutic o aith”—which restores theology and exegesis to theiroriginal ecclesial and liturgical locus. Finally, I will sketch in broad outlines the
For the purposes o this paper, I will be considering almost exclusively the theological opinionsand insights that Benedict articulated prior to his ponticate. I will restrict mysel to articles andaddresses authored under his own name and will not consider decisions or other writings issuedin his ofcial capacity as preect o the Vatican’s Congregation or the Doctrine o the Faith. Tetheological and exegetical judgments and conclusions discussed herein, while reective o and inaccord with Catholic dogma and teaching, are not necessarily considered binding on Catholics.Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,
A
 
New Song or the Lord: Faith in Christ and Liturgy oday,
trans.Martha M. Matesich (New York: Crossroad Herder, 99 [99]),
 
.
 
Te Authority of Mystery
99
biblical theology that grows out o Benedict’s new hermeneutic, beore concludingwith a consideration o its implications and promise or exegesis and theology.
 A Brief Teological and Ecclesial Résumé
While most popes in the modern era have hailed rom the Vatican’s diplomaticcorps, Benedict, like his immediate predecessor Pope John Paul II, was an inu-ential scholar and university proessor beore being named a bishop. As John Paulcontinued to make important scholarly contributions to the eld o philosophythroughout his career as a Church ofcial, Benedict, too, has been arguably amongthe seminal thinkers in theology and biblical interpretation in the last hal-cen-tury.It is beyond my scope here to provide a complete résumé o Benedict’s career,but I should note a ew highlights.
He received his doctorate in theology rom theUniversity o Munich in 9, writing his dissertation on Augustine’s exegesis andecclesiology. He lectured in undamental theology at several German universitiesbeore assuming the chair in dogmatic theology at the University o übingen in9. He was an expert theological adviser at the Second Vatican Council (9–9) and contributed to the Council’s document on divine revelation,
Dei Verbum.
In addition to hundreds o articles published in academic and ecclesial journals, heis the author o books o enduring importance and inuence on patristic theologyand exegesis,
ecclesiology,
dogmatic theology,
and the Christian symbol o aith.
 He was the co-ounder o an important theological journal,
Communio,
in col-laboration with some o the last century’s most inuential theologians, includingHenri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar
.
As the highest ranking doctrinal ofcial in the Catholic Church or nearlytwenty-our years, he helped oversee the teaching o the aith in Catholic univer-sities and seminaries throughout the world and played an important role in thework o the International Teological Commission and the Pontical BiblicalCommission. He was a decisive intellectual orce in the development o the
For a good overview, especially o his early academic writings, see Aidan Nichols,
Te Toughto Benedict XVI: An Introduction to the Teology o Joseph Ratzinger
(London: Burns & Oates,). For comprehensive bibliographies, see Nichols, 9–, and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,
Pilgrim Fellowship o Faith: Te Church as Communion,
ed. Stephan Otto Horn and VinzenzPnür, trans. Henry aylor (San Francisco: Ignatius,  []), 99–9.Joseph Ratzinger,
Te Teology o History in St. Bonaventure,
trans. Zachary Hayes (Chicago:Franciscan Herald, 9).Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,
Te Meaning o Christian Brotherhood
(San Francisco: Ignatius,99 [9]).Joseph Ratzinger,
Eschatology: Death and Eternal Lie,
trans. Michael Waldstein
 
(Washington:Catholic University o America, 9 [9]).9 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,
Introduction to Christianity,
trans. J. R. Foster (San Francisco:Ignatius, 99 [9]).
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...