Dialogue Derailed

Joseph Ratzinger's War against Pluralist Theology

Ambrose Mong

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781625649867
  9781498227292
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630877132
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Joseph Ratzinger has shaped and guided the church's understanding of its mission to proclaim the good news, as well as to forge good relations with non-Catholic Christian communities, other religious traditions, and the secular world at large. Through a critique of Ratzinger's theology, this book draws attention to the importance of theological discourses originating from non-European contexts. Mong highlights the gap between a dogmatic understanding of the faith and the pastoral realities of the Asian church, as well as the difficulties faced by Asian theologians trying to make their voices heard in a church still dominated by Western thinking. While Mong concurs with much of Ratzinger's analysis of the problems in modern society--such as the aggressive secularism and crisis of faith in Europe--he focuses attention on the realities of religious pluralism in Asia, which require the church to adopt a different approach in its theological formulations and pastoral practices.

1

Foundations and Development of Ratzinger’s Theology

In his “Presentation of the Declaration Dominus Iesus,” Joseph Ratzinger expresses his concern regarding the debate on the relationship of Christianity to other religions, in which he believes there is a widespread acceptance that all religions are of equal value in helping to gain salvation for their members. He is particularly worried by the fact that this conviction is accepted not only in theology, but also among the Catholic faithful. Underlying this pluralist theology of religion are the following philosophical and theological presuppositions: the belief that divine truth is ineffable; a relativistic attitude towards truth exists; a deep opposition between Western and Eastern modes of thought exists; subjectivism as the only route to knowledge; an anti-metaphysical approach to theology; superficial eclecticism in theological research and disregard of church tradition in the study of scripture.1

Ratzinger believes that this kind of thinking eventually leads to seeing the person of Jesus as just another historical figure. It also leads to the denial of the absolute being of the Christian God as revealed in history. There are some “moderate theologians” who, while recognizing Jesus Christ as true God and true man, think that this revelation of God must be seen in relation to other possible revelations, like the other great religious founders. This means that the church, its dogmas and sacraments have no absolute value.2

In view of the above beliefs, Ratzinger laments that the ideology of dialogue has taken the place of mission and the call to conversion, even in Catholic theological discourse. Dialogue is no longer perceived as a way to discover the truth, he complains, but is reduced to “an exchange of opinions” with the purpose of achieving “cooperation and integration” among the different religions.3 Ratzinger thinks that the principle of tolerance promoted by the Second Vatican Council is “being manipulated” to include the acceptance of other religious beliefs as of equal value to Christianity. This kind of tolerance avoids confronting questions of truth. He maintains that if the question of truth is not considered, then it is no longer possible to distinguish between true faith and superstition and yet, the positive value in any religion lies precisely in its truth.4 Ratzinger asserts:

The good that is present in the various religions offers paths toward salvation and does so as part of the activity of the Spirit in Christ, but the religions themselves do not. . . . Goodness and truth, wherever they may be, come from the Father and are the work of the Holy Spirit. The seeds of the Logos are cast abroad everywhere. Yet we cannot shut our eyes to the errors and illusions that are present in these religions.5

Thus Ratzinger insists that respect and regard for other religious beliefs neither diminishes the “unique status” of Jesus Christ nor restricts the missionary vocation of the church. This motive to evangelize is rooted in the “mystery of Christ, who is true God and true man.”6 Ratzinger believes Christianity is flourishing in parts of Asia due to the inherent deficiencies in the local belief systems. This perception of the truth in Christianity and his understanding of the role of the church as a means of salvation and a bastion against perverse ideologies was instilled in Joseph Ratzinger from the time of his early childhood in Bavaria.

Bavarian Background

Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927 in the Bavarian village of Marktl am Inn, just two weeks before Adolph Hitler held the first Berlin Rally of his National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi). He was the youngest of three children of a policeman and his wife. In his autobiography, Milestones, Ratzinger stresses the fact that he was born on Holy Saturday and baptized with the newly blessed Easter water. He looks back with fond memories, on his family and the solid Catholicism of Bavaria, as evidenced in the liturgy and the faith of simple people. He recalls that “The time the family spent in Marktl was not an easy one. . . . But there were many beautiful memories of friendship and neighborly aid, memories of small family celebrations and of church life.”7 Commenting on the beatification and canonization of Konrad of Parzham (1818–94), a Capuchin friar, he writes, “In this humble and thoroughly kind man we saw what is best in our people embodied and led by faith to its most beautiful possibilities . . . in this century of progress and faith in science, the Church should have found herself represented most clearly in very simple people . . . who hardly seemed to be touched by the currents of the time.”8

Bavaria is one of the most traditional and conservative regions in Germany, and Aidan Nichols remarks that Ratzinger is very much a Bavarian theologian. It was in Bavaria, a region of wooded hills and small lakes, that the young Ratzinger realized his priestly vocation.9 Ratzinger is also “spiritually and culturally Bavarian” which means that he is most comfortable in a Catholic environment. Consequently, “An appreciation for diversity was not something he [Ratzinger] imbibed growing up, and a preference for homogeneity remains part of his character.”10 This reluctance to appreciate diversity, coupled with his belief in the superiority of the Roman Catholic faith and the Catholic Church as the sole path towards the fullness of salvation, won him many critics as well as supporters.

Ratzinger grew up in the shadow of Nazism: Hitler came to power in 1933 when Ratzinger was six and the war ended in 1945 when he was eighteen. Although Ratzinger’s...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface and Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Foundations and Development of Ratzinger’s Theology
• Chapter 2: Challenge of Religious Pluralism
• Chapter 3: Ecclesiology: All Roads Lead to Rome
• Chapter 4: Ecumenism: Logos versus Ethos
• Chapter 5: Threat of Secularism
• Chapter 6: Dictatorship of Relativism
• Chapter 7: Tissa Balasuriya: Mary and Human Liberation
• Chapter 8: Jacques Dupuis: Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism
• Chapter 9: Peter Phan: Being Religious Interreligiously
• Chapter 10: Theological Context and Vision
• Chapter 11: Perspective of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences
• Bibliography