Posted on 09/23/2010 6:13:45 PM PDT by Gamecock
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The current Pope (Joseph Ratzinger) entered office with a formidable reputation as the Vatican’s arch-conservative 'enforcer' of doctrine. In Protestant circles, it was conservative Evangelicals rather than mainline liberals that welcomed his appointment.1 Among those who praised his writings was Michael Horton (of Westminster Theological Seminary, California). While recognising that areas of disagreement exist, he considered that 'Evangelicals will have reason to be encouraged by many of the new Pope’s teachings'.2 He was one of the Evangelical scholars who endorsed Scott Hahn’s recent book, Covenant and Communion: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI.3 This comes in the context of recent 'conversions' of conservative Evangelicals to Rome, such as Hahn himself. It is evident that the current Pope’s writings are being presented in a way that will appeal to conservative Evangelicals and encourage them to 'return home to Rome'.4 Joseph Ratzinger’s views are a little more complicated than his reputation suggests, however. During his early academic career Ratzinger admired, and worked with, radical liberal theologians such as Hans Küng, Karl Rahner and Edward Schillebeeckx and was also influential within the liberal majority at the Second Vatican Council in 1962.5 Ratzinger has gradually distanced himself from the extreme 'progressivism' of his ultra-liberal colleagues.6 In a 1993 interview with Time magazine, Ratzinger asserted, 'I see no change in my theological positions over the years'. He describes himself as a 'balanced progressive', evidently blending conservative and modernist approaches.77 The doctrine of the resurrection of the body. The continuity of Ratzinger’s theological views from his apparently-radical past is seen in his best known, most systematic book,Introduction to Christianity.8 The book seeks to explain the Apostles’ Creed in the light of contemporary Roman Catholic dogma. When Ratzinger approaches the clause, 'I believe in the resurrection of the body', he recognises that this doctrine is a 'stumbling block to the modern mind' (p 232).9 His definition is both strange and ambiguous. 'Resurrection', he writes, 'expresses the idea that the immortality of man can exist and be thought of only in the fellowship of men' (p 172). The doctrine, he claims, creates a 'curious dilemma' (p 238) because modern liberal theologians no longer believe that body and soul can be identified as separate entities, something that Ratzinger dismisses, together with the immortality of the soul, as a Greek notion which has 'become obsolete' (p 241). Ratzinger’s book, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, covers, amongst other things, the nature of the resurrection. He notes that the accepted view among modern Roman Catholic and liberal Protestant theologians is that body and soul expire at the point of death and that 'the proper Christian thing, therefore, is to speak, not of the soul’s immortality, but of the resurrection of the complete human being and of that alone' (p 105). He notes that the word soul has disappeared from Roman Catholic liturgy (also from Roman Catholic Bible translations) as a consequence. Ratzinger offers his own new definition of the soul: 'The "soul" is our term for that in us which offers a foothold for this relation [with the eternal]. Soul is nothing other than man’s capacity for relatedness with truth, with love eternal' (p 259). The soul is therefore defined heretically as the capacity for relationship rather than real spiritual substance; having a soul means 'being God’s partner in dialogue'.10 In Introduction to Christianity, Ratzinger explicitly denies the resurrection of the body. 'It now becomes clear that the real heart of faith in the resurrection does not consist at all in the idea of the restoration of bodies, to which we have reduced it in our thinking; such is the case even though this is the pictorial image used throughout the Bible'. He says that the word body, or flesh, in the phrase, the resurrection of the body, 'in effect means "the world of man" . . . [it is] not meant in the sense of a corporality isolated from the soul' (pp 240-41). Ratzinger is deliberately using a meaning that is impossible in the context, in order to explain away the clear meaning of the text. This is also done in relation to the word for body (Greek: soma), which he says can also mean self. He draws the conclusion that 'one thing at any rate may be fairly clear: both John (6:63) and Paul (1 Cor. 15:50) state with all possible emphasis that the "resurrection of the flesh", the "resurrection of the body", is not a "resurrection of physical bodies" . . . Paul teaches, not the resurrection of physical bodies, but the resurrection of persons, and this not in the return of "flesh body", that is, the biological structure, an idea he expressly describes as impossible ("the perishable cannot become imperishable") but in the different form of the life of the resurrection, as shown in the risen Lord' (p 246). Ratzinger could not be more explicit about his interpretation of 'the biblical pronouncements about the resurrection'. He says that 'their essential content is not the conception of a restoration of bodies to souls after a long interval; their aim is to tell men that they, they themselves, live on . . . because they are known and loved by God in a way that they can no longer perish . . . the essential part of man, the person, remains . . . it goes on existing because it lives in God’s memory' (p 243). The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ratzinger brushes aside all attempts to verify the resurrection as a historical event and asserts that it was really a matter of personal experience. Christ is 'the one who died on the cross and to the eye of faith, rose again from the dead'.13 How far this is from the biblical truth of passages such as John 20:27: 'Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing'. What a contrast with the clear and faithful summary provided in the Westminster Confession: 'On the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered' (8:4). The true doctrine of the resurrection of the body. The bodies of believers are united to Christ (1 Cor. 6:14-15) even when they rest in the grave until the resurrection (1 Thess. 4:14). To deny the resurrection of the body is not only to hand some victory to death and the evil one that 'had the power of death', but to take away from the fullness of redemption in this area (Rom. 8:23). Official Roman Catholic doctrine. How then may the current Pope continue to deny such a statement of the Church’s official teaching?16 It can be done only by the Jesuitical distinction that he makes between his official and private views (despite the fact that his books are all marketed with 'Pope Benedict XVI' more prominently displayed than his real name).17 Despite the seemingly-binding nature of the new Catechism, some point to the fact that it was not prepared by a full Council and are able to take some refuge in Ratzinger’s comments that the Catechism seeks to leave debated questions as open as possible.18 Ratzinger also views doctrinal formulations as having an 'infinitely broken nature' in 'man’s continual effort to go beyond himself and reach up to God' (p 98). It is alarming to think of the extent of the heresies held by those who have authority within the bounds of Rome if Ratzinger is to be considered conservative. An explanation closer to the heart of the matter is that it is typical of Roman Catholicism to say both 'yes' and 'no' at the same time to biblical doctrine.19 It says 'yes' to the authority of Scripture but simultaneously 'no' by exalting the Church’s teaching above it. It says 'yes' to Christ as mediator, while also saying 'no' in giving priests, the Church, saints and Mary the real mediatorial function as 'second Christs'. It says 'yes' to a certain definition of justification by faith while giving a firm 'no' to justification by faith alone. This is not only entirely contrary to the nature of truth but also to the command of Christ (Matt. 5:37) and the example of the Apostle Paul whose word was not 'yea and nay' (2 Cor. 1:18-19). This is also part of that 'all deceivableness of unrighteousness' (2 Thess. 2:10) with which the system presided over by the man of sin is characterised.20 It is well able to bring together the incompatible as well as the diverse. There is a deceivability that goes beyond any other, and a particular deceit in presenting itself with an appeal for every kind of person, whatever form of belief or unbelief they prefer. Woe unto any 'Evangelical' deceived by it.
Notes: [1]. Norman Geisler, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, NC, rejoiced 'in the choice because he’s going to hold the line and he’s not going to allow the liberal element in the Catholic Church to reverse any of those things'. Charles Colson hailed it as 'a great choice for orthodoxy'. John Witvliet of Calvin College spoke of the appeal of his writings for Protestants as well as Roman Catholics (Christianity Today, 18/04/05). [2]. 'What can Protestants expect from the new Pope?' posted on www.whitehorseinn.org on 21/04/05. Ratzinger’s major work, Introduction to Christianity is said to have been influential in persuading some Evangelical thinkers that a doctrinal meeting point could be established with Roman Catholics. [3]. Horton has since clarified that he was endorsing an 'eminently useful guide for . . . the thought of an important theologian of our time', rather than the theology of the book. [4]. This is largely because Ratzinger’s theology is more influenced by Augustine than Thomas Aquinas and he refers to Scripture more frequently than other Roman Catholic theologians. [5]. Ratzinger even wrote a speech for Cardinal Josef Frings in which the Congregation for the Defence of the Faith (of which Ratzinger would later become head) was condemned. A sketch of Ratzinger’s theological career, including his heretical views in relation to the doctrine of Scripture, is available in 'Who is Benedict XVI?' in the book, Pope Benedict XVI and the United Kingdom (Free Presbyterian Publications, 2010). [6]. This was evident when Ratzinger was influential in the discipline of the theologian Hans Kung, despite having contributed, only a few years earlier, to The Problem of Infallibility, a book by Roman Catholic theologians, defending Kung’s statements on papal infallibility. [7]. The Ratzinger Report: an exclusive interview on the state of the Church, with Vittorio Messori, Ignatius Press, 1985, p 18. [8]. First published 1968, reprinted repeatedly (latest reprint 2004, with a new preface by Ratzinger; all quotations are from this edition). [9]. The Apostle Paul made no such concessions to unbelief in his day (Acts 17:18,32). [10]. Introduction, p 244. This refusal to identify the real substance of the soul connects with Ratzinger’s doctrine of God as 'entirely relationship' rather than substance. (Many Religions – One Covenant: Israel, the Church, and the World, Ignatius Press, 1998, p 77.) [11]. Introduction, p 212. He says that it is 'impossible for the Gospels to describe the encounter with the risen Christ; that is why they can only stammer when they speak of these meetings and seem to provide contradictory descriptions of them' (Introduction, p 211). [12]. Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology, Ignatius Press, 2009, p 186. This is an obvious reference to the work of Ratzinger’s longstanding colleague, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, who denies the historicity of the resurrection. Lehmann’s 1969 book, Auferweckt am ditten Tag nach der Schrif, denied that the expression, 'the third day', should be taken literally. Ratzinger established a theological journal with Lehmann in 1972 and the latter was on his staff in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 10 years. [13]. Introduction, p 152, my emphasis. [14]. Augustine of Hippo said that: 'There is no article of the Christian faith which has encountered such contradiction as that of the resurrection of the flesh' (Sermon on Psalm 89). [15]. See also Job 19:25; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29; Rev. 20:13. For the resurrection body of believers as like to Christ, see 1 Cor. 15:20, 23 and 1 John 3:2. [16]. A minority of traditionalist Romanists called sedevacantists believe that the current Pope together with his last three predecessors are heretics and cannot be regarded as valid popes. [17]. 'It goes without saying that this book is absolutely not a magisterial act, but is only the expression of my personal search . . . So everyone is free to disagree with me.' (Preface to Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, translated by Adrian Walker, Random House/Doubleday, 2007. [18]. Joseph A Komonchak, 'The authority of the Catechism', in Introducing the Catechism of the Catholic Church: traditional themes and contemporary issues, ed. Berard L Marthaler, Paulist Press, 1994, pp 18-31). In Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian issued by Ratzinger in 1990, there are complicated qualifications as to when and how views differing from official doctrine can be proposed: for example, 'witholding assent' is distinguished from 'dissent'. [19]. This is mentioned by Leonardo De Chirico in 'Roman Catholicism and the Evangelical Alternative', Foundations (Spring, 2007). [20]. Calvin notes that this 'must consist partly in false doctrine and errors'.
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An interesting collection of theological mumblings from the Pope who wears Prada.
I appreciate the thought, but I'd have to classify it as an 'obese opportunity'.
Could a catholic brother or sister clarify his views?
By Pope Benedict XVI
4/13/2009
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - We present Pope Benedict XVI’s Easter Message in its entirety. It was accompanied by his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and to the world) blessing on Easter Sunday in Rome:
The Resurrection of the Lord is Our Hope
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world,
From the depths of my heart, I wish all of you a blessed Easter. To quote Saint Augustine, “Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra – the resurrection of the Lord is our hope” (Sermon 261:1). With these words, the great Bishop explained to the faithful that Jesus rose again so that we, though destined to die, should not despair, worrying that with death life is completely finished; Christ is risen to give us hope (cf. ibid.).
Indeed, one of the questions that most preoccupies men and women is this: what is there after death? To this mystery today´s solemnity allows us to respond that death does not have the last word, because Life will be victorious at the end. This certainty of ours is based not on simple human reasoning, but on a historical fact of faith: Jesus Christ, crucified and buried, is risen with his glorified body. Jesus is risen so that we too, believing in him, may have eternal life. This proclamation is at the heart of the Gospel message. As Saint Paul vigorously declares: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” He goes on to say: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:14,19). Ever since the dawn of Easter a new Spring of hope has filled the world; from that day forward our resurrection has begun, because Easter does not simply signal a moment in history, but the beginning of a new condition: Jesus is risen not because his memory remains alive in the hearts of his disciples, but because he himself lives in us, and in him we can already savour the joy of eternal life.
The resurrection, then, is not a theory, but a historical reality revealed by the man Jesus Christ by means of his “Passover”, his “passage”, that has opened a “new way” between heaven and earth (cf. Heb 10:20). It is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but it is a singular and unrepeatable event: Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, who at dusk on Friday was taken down from the Cross and buried, has victoriously left the tomb. In fact, at dawn on the first day after the Sabbath, Peter and John found the tomb empty. Mary Magdalene and the other women encountered the risen Jesus. On the way to Emmaus the two disciples recognized him at the breaking of the bread. The Risen One appeared to the Apostles that evening in the Upper Room and then to many other disciples in Galilee.
The proclamation of the Lord´s Resurrection lightens up the dark regions of the world in which we live. I am referring particularly to materialism and nihilism, to a vision of the world that is unable to move beyond what is scientifically verifiable, and retreats cheerlessly into a sense of emptiness which is thought to be the definitive destiny of human life. It is a fact that if Christ had not risen, the “emptiness” would be set to prevail. If we take away Christ and his resurrection, there is no escape for man, and every one of his hopes remains an illusion. Yet today is the day when the proclamation of the Lord´s resurrection vigorously bursts forth, and it is the answer to the recurring question of the sceptics, that we also find in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Is there a thing of which it is said, ´See, this is new´?” (Ec 1:10). We answer, yes: on Easter morning, everything was renewed. “Mors et vita, duello conflixere mirando: dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus – Death and life have come face to face in a tremendous duel: the Lord of life was dead, but now he lives triumphant.” This is what is new! A newness that changes the lives of those who accept it, as in the case of the saints. This, for example, is what happened to Saint Paul.
Many times, in the context of the Pauline year, we have had occasion to meditate on the experience of the great Apostle. Saul of Tarsus, the relentless persecutor of Christians, encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, and was “conquered” by him. The rest we know. In Paul there occurred what he would later write about to the Christians of Corinth: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). Let us look at this great evangelizer, who with bold enthusiasm and apostolic zeal brought the Gospel to many different peoples in the world of that time. Let his teaching and example inspire us to go in search of the Lord Jesus. Let them encourage us to trust him, because that sense of emptiness, which tends to intoxicate humanity, has been overcome by the light and the hope that emanate from the resurrection. The words of the Psalm have truly been fulfilled: “Darkness is not darkness for you, and the night is as clear as the day” (Ps 139 [138]:12). It is no longer emptiness that envelops all things, but the loving presence of God. The very reign of death has been set free, because the Word of life has even reached the “underworld”, carried by the breath of the Spirit (v. 8).
If it is true that death no longer has power over man and over the world, there still remain very many, in fact too many signs of its former dominion. Even if through Easter, Christ has destroyed the root of evil, he still wants the assistance of men and women in every time and place who help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love. This is the message which, during my recent Apostolic Visit to Cameroon and Angola, I wanted to convey to the entire African continent, where I was welcomed with such great enthusiasm and readiness to listen. Africa suffers disproportionately from the cruel and unending conflicts, often forgotten, that are causing so much bloodshed and destruction in several of her nations, and from the growing number of her sons and daughters who fall prey to hunger, poverty and disease. I shall repeat the same message emphatically in the Holy Land, to which I shall have the joy of travelling in a few weeks from now. Reconciliation – difficult, but indispensable – is a precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
My thoughts move outwards from the Holy Land to neighbouring countries, to the Middle East, to the whole world. At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and deprivation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope. Let no one draw back from this peaceful battle that has been launched by Christ´s Resurrection. For as I said earlier, Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love.
Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope! This the Church proclaims today with joy. She announces the hope that is now firm and invincible because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. She communicates the hope that she carries in her heart and wishes to share with all people in every place, especially where Christians suffer persecution because of their faith and their commitment to justice and peace. She invokes the hope that can call forth the courage to do good, even when it costs, especially when it costs. Today the Church sings “the day that the Lord has made”, and she summons people to joy. Today the Church calls in prayer upon Mary, Star of Hope, asking her to guide humanity towards the safe haven of salvation which is the heart of Christ, the paschal Victim, the Lamb who has “redeemed the world”, the Innocent one who has “reconciled us sinners with the Father”.
To him, our victorious King, to him who is crucified and risen, we sing out with joy our Alleluia!
Of course the Pope believes in Jesus Christ and the Resurrection.
What is this author smoking?
Jesuitical? Really? Then I suppose every time a federal judge is giving his personal opinion on a matter of Constitutional interpretation, then that's automatically registered as a verdict?
Methinks "Jesuitical" is a Genevish way of admitting "I'm entirely too dense to understand the fundamental distinction here."
I applaud your response. I don’t even bother anymore. You saw the coven get pinged.
Do you think that the truth matters to these people? Even remotely?
Not a chance.
But good for you.
Thank you for posting this. Its a shame you even had to.
Googling “Does Pope Benedict deny the resurrection” I got this hit:
“The astonishing novelty of the Resurrection is so important that the Church never ceases to proclaim it, perpetuating its memory, especially on Sundays, the Lord’s Day and the weekly Easter of the people of God,” explained the Pope, who traveled to the Vatican by helicopter from his residence in Castel Gandolfo.
Instead of a far away, mythical story, we must proclaim Jesus’ Resurrection as “a real historical event, borne out by many authoritative witnesses,” Pope Benedict insisted. “We affirm it forcefully because, even in our own times, there is no lack of people who seek to deny its historical truth, reducing the Gospel narrative to a myth, thus repeating old worn-out theories as if they were new and scientific.”
“Of course, for Jesus the Resurrection was not a simple return to His earlier life on earth,” the Pope continued. “Rather it was a passage to a profoundly new dimension of life, one that is deeply new, that involves in a new dimension the whole of the human family.”
This new dimension, he added, illuminates “our entire earthly pilgrimage, including the human enigma of pain and death.” “With St. Augustine we can proclaim: ‘The Resurrection of Christ is our hope’ and our future,” the Pope pointed out.
“It is true,” the Pope stated, “Christ’s Resurrection is the foundation of our firm hope and illuminates our entire earthly pilgrimage, including the human enigma of pain and death.”
Moreover, “Faith in Christ crucified and risen is the heart of the entire evangelical message, the central nucleus of our ‘Creed.’” “The death of Christ shows that the word of God really and fully became ‘flesh’, human ‘history.’”
“At Easter,” the Holy Father concluded, “God reveals Himself and the power of the Trinitarian love that annihilates the destructive forces of evil and death.”
“Let us be enlightened by the splendor of the Risen Lord. Like Saint Paul who met the Divine Master in an extraordinary fashion on his way to Damascus, we cannot keep to ourselves this truth which changes everyone’s life. We must bear witness to divine love.”
One point is right. The Greek doctrine of the immortality of souls is not the same as the Christian doctrine.
I don’t either. Don’t cast your pearls before the swine comes to mind.
Is there a pool running on how many Romophobes freaked out when they read “Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome...”?
Do any Catholics?
I always see Jesus on the cross whenever I’m in a Catholic institution. My Lord is no longer on the cross, he has risen.
I think an empty tomb would be better...
Just saying...
What a waste of bandwidth by the poster of the trash.
How often does this crap go on?
Daily.
And if you think this is bad, check out the religion forum around Lent and Easter. Every year, the same thing for years.
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