Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures
Overview
Written by Joseph Ratzinger shortly before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures looks at the growing conflict of cultures evident in the Western world.
Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures is no mere tirade against the moral decline of the West. Razinger challenges the West to return to its roots by finding a place for God in modern culture. He argues that both Christian culture and the Enlightenment formed the West, and that both hold the keys to human life and freedom as well as to domination and destruction.
Ratzinger challenges the non-believer and believer alike. “Both parties,” he writes, “must reflect on their own selves and be ready to accept correction.” He challenges secularized, unbelieving people to open themselves to God as the ground of true rationality and freedom. He calls on believers to “make God credible in this world by means of the enlightened faith they live.”
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Key Features
- Explores the growing conflict of cultures evident in the Western world
- Challenges the West to return to its roots by finding a place for God in modern culture
- Provides profound biblical teaching for both Protestants and Catholics
Contents
- Reflections on Cultures That Are in Conflict Today
- The Significance and Limits of Today’s Rationalistic Culture
- The Permanent Significance of the Christian Faith
- Why We Must Not Give Up the Fight
- The Law of the Jungle, the Rule of Law
- We Must Use Our Eyes!
- Faith and Everyday Life: A Fundamental Human Attitude
- Can Agnosticism Be a Solution?
- The Natural Knowledge of God
- “Supernatural” Faith and Its Origins
- Development of Premises
Top Highlights
“The real antagonism typical of today’s world is not that between diverse religious cultures; rather, it is the antagonism between the radical emancipation of man from God, from the roots of life, on the one hand, and the great religious cultures, on the other. If we come to experience a clash of cultures, this will not be due to a conflict between the great religions, which of course have always been at odds with one another but, nevertheless, have ultimately always understood how to coexist with one another. The coming clash will be between this radical emancipation of man and the great historical cultures.” (Page 44)
“I wonder if the situation of today’s world might not make us return to the idea that Kant was right? Let me put this in different terms: the attempt, carried to extremes, to shape human affairs to the total exclusion of God leads us more and more to the brink of the abyss, toward the utter annihilation of man. We must therefore reverse the axiom of the Enlightenment and say: Even the one who does not succeed in finding the path to accepting the existence of God ought nevertheless to try to live and to direct his life veluti si Deus daretur, as if God did indeed exist.” (Page 51)
“This philosophy expresses, not the complete reason of man, but only one part of it. And this mutilation of reason means that we cannot consider it to be rational at all.” (Page 43)
“We asked two questions: whether the rationalistic (positivist) philosophy is strictly rational, and therefore universally valid, and whether it is complete. Is it enough on its own?” (Page 43)
Praise for the Print Edition
Pope Benedict has been a keen and precise critic of the cultural clashes that have been shaking the West over the last half a century. He doesn’t kowtow to the latest politically correct fad, nor does he mince words to state the truth. In this book he clearly outlines the what the greatest threats are to the Christian culture and the civilization which is based upon it. This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand better the position of the Catholic Church in the ongoing global culture wars.
—Bojan Tunguz, visiting scholar, Stanford University
Product Details
- Title: Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures
- Author: Joseph Ratzinger
- Translator: Brian McNeil
- Publisher: Ignatius Press
- Publication Date: 2006
- Pages: 117
- Christian Group: Catholic
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Christianity and Culture
About Joseph Ratzinger
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.