Principles of Christian Morality
Overview
A collection of essays by three giants of twentieth-century theology: Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Heinz Schürmann. Balthasar’s and Schürmann’s essays were written for the International Theological Commission. Schürmann examines how the New Testament’s teaching provides enduring moral norms for Christian conduct. Balthasar presents nine basic principles of the Christian moral life. Ratzinger, who originally wrote this essay as a series of articles for L’Osservatore Romano, addresses the relationship between faith and morality, and the place of the Church’s teaching authority with regard to moral issues.
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Key Features
- Examines the New Testament’s teaching on Christian conduct
- Presents nine basic principles of the Christian moral life
- Addresses the relationship between faith and morality
Contents
- “How Normative Are the Values and Precepts of the New Testament?” by Heinz Schürmann
- “The Church’s Teaching Authority—Faith—Morals” by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
- “Nine Propositions on Christian Ethics” by Hans Urs von Balthasar
Top Highlights
“The originality of Christianity does not consist in the number of propositions for which no parallel can be found elsewhere (if there are such propositions, which is highly questionable). It is impossible to distill out what is specifically Christian by excluding everything that has come about through contact with other milieux. Christianity’s originality consists rather in the new total form into which human searching and striving have been forged under the guidance of faith in the God of Abraham, the God of Jesus Christ.” (Page 53)
“Fellowship with Jesus Christ, which faith is, signifies to the eyes of the world a participation in a conspiracy punishable by death.” (Page 59)
“Yahweh’s total otherness, his ‘holiness’, is a moral dimension; to it corresponds man’s moral action in accord with the ‘Ten Words’.” (Pages 56–57)
“Christians do not merely adopt a theory about Jesus, but enter into his way of living and dying and make it their own.” (Page 60)
“faith recognizes fundamental human values and rescues them from all manipulation.” (Page 70)
Product Details
- Title: Principles of Christian Morality
- Authors: Joseph Ratzinger, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Heinz Schürmann
- Translator: Graham Harrison
- Publisher: Ignatius Press
- Publication Date: 1986
- Pages: 104
- Christian Group: Catholic
- Resource Type: Collected Essays
- Topic: Moral
About the Authors
Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–1988) was a Swiss theologian, widely considered to be one of the most important Catholic intellectuals and theological writers of the twentieth century. Incredibly prolific and diverse, he wrote over one hundred books and hundreds of articles. He was nominated to be a cardinal of the Catholic Church, but died two days before his ceremony.
Heinz Schürmann (1913–1999) is the author of Praying with Christ and The Two Epistles to the Thessalonians from the New Testament for Spiritual Reading series. He studied theology and philosophy in Tübingen and in Rome and was ordained a priest in 1938. He joined the Catholic theology faculty at the University of Münster immediately after receiving his ThD in 1952.
Joseph Ratzinger is one of the most revered Catholic prelates, scholars, theologians, teachers, and authors of our time. He has spoken on many crucial subjects, including sexual consumerism, roles of men and women today, marriage, the priesthood, and the future of the world. On June 29, 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Freising on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He also received his doctorate in theology in 1953 from the University of Munich. Starting in 1959, Ratzinger taught theology at the University of Bonn.
After many years of teaching at several German universities, Ratzinger was appointed by Pope Paul VI as Archbishop of Munich and Freising in March 1977, and was elevated to cardinal in June 1977. In November 1981, Ratzinger was summoned by Pope John Paul II to Rome, where he was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and President of the International Theological Commission.
On April 19, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to be the 265th pope. He took the name Benedict XVI, after St. Benedict of Nursia. As pope, he received worldwide respect and was a spiritual influence to Christians and non-Christians alike. In 2013, he resigned the papacy, becoming the first pope to do so in since the fifteenth century. He retired to a monastery in the Vatican Gardens, where he continues to study and write.