This is an upper-level introduction to the thought and theology of Pope Benedict XVI. The book explains the foundations of Ratzinger's thought by analysing the theological axes upon which his works turn and helps readers to place his thought in the context of his intellectual antecedents and contemporary interlocutors.

This volume offers an up-to-date introduction to Eberhard Jüngel's intellectual formation, publications and influence. Jüngel is one of the most original and influential Protestant theologians to emerge after Karl Barth, and his theology has received fresh interest of late from systematic theologians, biblical scholars and historians of modern Christian thought. R. David Nelson guides the reader through the figures, movements and conceptual developments in the background of Jüngel's thought. By introducing Jüngel's four major monographs and eleven of his key essays, Nelson is able to assess a number of themes prominent in Jüngel's theology, and to summarize the achievements, challenges, and prospects of his theological contribution. This comprehensive introduction will help the inquisitive student to engage with Jüngel's thought.

This guide aims to elaborate and constructively engage some of the ongoing dogmatic challenges within the field of Christian pneumatology. Rather than a strict survey, the book largely represents a collection of working proposals on a number of relevant themes, including cosmology, mediation, the nature and role of Spirit-baptism, and discernment. For those who have found pneumatology frustrating and confusing, the book can serve as an aid to clarify some of the most crucial matters at stake in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and in turn provide some ways forward amidst the morass of possibilities available.

Christians agree that they are saved through the death and resurrection of Christ. But how is the atonement achieved in these events? This book offers an introduction to the doctrine of the atonement focused on the unity and diversity of the work of Christ. Johnson reorients current patterns of thought concerning Christ's work by giving the reader a unifying vision of the immensely rich and diverse doctrine of the atonement, offering a sampling of its treasures, and cultivating the desire to further understand and apply these riches to everyday life. Where introductions to the atonement typically favor one aspect of the work of Christ, or work with a set number of themes, aspects or theories, this book takes the opposite approach, developing the foundation for the multi-faceted nature of Christ's work within the being of God himself. It offers a grand unifying vision of Christ's manifold work. Specific elaborations of different theories of the atonement, biblical themes, and the work of different theologians find their place within this larger rubric.

This important and illuminating book focuses on Ratzinger's status as one of the preeminent Catholic theologians of the 20th century. Aidan Nichols provides a full-scale investigation of his theology as it develops from the 1950s onward. The book presents a chronological account of the development of Ratzinger's writing which reflects a wide range of historical and theoretical interests such as: Augustine's ecclesiology, early Franciscanism and the idea of salvation history, Christian brotherhood, the unfolding of the Second Vatican Council, the Apostles' Creed, explorations of the concept of the Church, preaching, liturgy and Church music, eschatology, the foundations of dogmatic and moral theology, and the problem of pluralism. This third edition, as well as providing a two-chapter-long biography of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, and amplifying the account already given of his later pre-papal writings, describes the new thinking that belongs to the years of Benedict's pontificate. That comprises his trilogy of books on Jesus of Nazareth, his quartet of encyclicals, and the set of major speeches he gave at global venues, chiefly on the contribution of faith to culture and civil society. An expanded Conclusion, weighing the lasting significance of his work, leads into a presentation of the themes of his posthumous essay collection - the 'curtain-call' he entitled 'What is Christianity?'

This volume examines what the followers of Jesus meant when they declared that he was raised from the dead. This claim, which lies at the core of Christian faith, is one of the most controversial topics in Christianity. Jesus' resurrection has no analogy in human history. Although many 1st-century Jews expected the resurrection of the dead at the end of time, the Christian claim that this had already happened to one individual within the realm of history was unprecedented. Moreover, an affirmation of Jesus' bodily resurrection contradicts the known laws of nature. Additional difficulty comes from the nature of the available evidence. The New Testament sources not only mirror the worldview of ancient authors but also differ with regard to who saw him alive, what was the nature of his risen body, and whether the empty tomb was a widespread knowledge or an assumption based on prior beliefs. Novakovic presents all these issues in a clear and methodical way. She examines the literary sources and addresses various questions related to historical investigations of Jesus' resurrection.

Catholicism and Liberal Democracy seeks to clarify if there is a place for Catholicism in the public discourse of modern liberal democracy, bringing secular liberalism, as articulated by Jürgen Habermas, into conversation with the Catholic tradition. James Martin Carr explores three aspects of the Catholic tradition relevant to this debate: the Church's response to democracy from the nineteenth century up until the eve of the Second Vatican Council; the Council's engagement with modernity, in particular through Gaudium et spes and Dignitatis humanae; and Joseph Ratzinger's theology of politics as a particularly incisive (and influential) articulation of the Catholic tradition in this area. Jürgen Habermas's theorization of the place of religion in modern democracy, both in his earlier secularist phase and after his 'post-secular' turn, is evaluated. The adequacy of Habermas's recent attempts to accommodate religious citizens are critically examined and it is argued that developments in his later thought logically require a more thoroughgoing revision of his earlier theory. These developments, it is argued, create tantalizing openings for fruitful dialogue between Habermas and the Catholic tradition. Using analytical tools drawn from communications theory, the debates on same-sex marriage at Westminster and in the Irish referendum campaign are analyzed, assessing whether Catholic contributions to these debates comply with Habermasian rules of civic discourse. In light of this analysis, the prospects of, and impediments to, Catholic participation in public discourse are appraised. Carr concludes by proposing a Ratzingerian critique of contemporary attempts to redefine marriage within a broader, more fundamental critique of the modern democratic state as currently configured. A political system founded upon secularist monism cannot but regard Christian Gelasianism, and its Catholic variant in particular, as an existential threat. Thus, Catholics, however Habermasian their political behavior, can never be more than uneasy bedfellows with modern liberal democracy.