St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVI
Toward the end of Cardinal Ratzinger’s mandate as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he reflected upon the crisis of faith and culture in Europe and its causes, particularly the refusal by European Union ruling classes to put God’s name in the new European Constitution or...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Catholic faculty of Theology, University of Split
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Crkva u Svijetu |
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| Online Access: | https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/447862 |
| _version_ | 1797206231254827008 |
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| author | Elvis Ražov |
| author_facet | Elvis Ražov |
| author_sort | Elvis Ražov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Toward the end of Cardinal Ratzinger’s mandate as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he reflected upon the crisis of faith and culture in Europe and its causes, particularly the refusal by European Union ruling classes to put God’s name in the new European Constitution or acknowledge Europe’s Christian roots. Moreover, his writings reveal a personal and thoughtful approach to Benedictine monasticism and St. Benedict as a model for the spiritual renewal of Europe. The aim of this paper is to analyze places in Joseph Ratzinger’s works as a theologian, and later as Pope Benedict XVI, on the importance of imitating St. Benedict and studying his testimonies in response to Europe’s current crisis of faith and culture. Analyzing the Enlightenment culture that led to the secularist understanding of a Europe in which the place for faith is only found through political compromise and a tolerance of faith as long as it remains on the margins of social action, rather than serving as the spiritual driving force, Pope Benedict sees Europe’s fundamental disorder in the reductionism of the Enlightenment, in which reason is limited to empirical positivism. The ultimate consequence is the loss of the foundations of public morality, the negation of human dignity and the loss of freedom in a dictatorship of relativism that contradicts the fundamental starting points of the Enlightenment—namely, the desire for open-mindedness to the whole of reality in which God is encountered as the basis of all that exists, true humanity, open to true freedom through obedience to the Word of God, and the restoration of the foundation of democracy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T09:03:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3433004b438c4f6ea00173835b4bb076 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0352-4000 1848-9656 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T09:03:44Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Catholic faculty of Theology, University of Split |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Crkva u Svijetu |
| spelling | doaj.art-3433004b438c4f6ea00173835b4bb0762024-04-15T19:06:35ZdeuCatholic faculty of Theology, University of SplitCrkva u Svijetu0352-40001848-96562023-01-01581. suppl.32934810.34075/cs.58.1s.15St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVIElvis Ražov0University of Zadar, Department of Theology and Catechism, Zadar, CroatiaToward the end of Cardinal Ratzinger’s mandate as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he reflected upon the crisis of faith and culture in Europe and its causes, particularly the refusal by European Union ruling classes to put God’s name in the new European Constitution or acknowledge Europe’s Christian roots. Moreover, his writings reveal a personal and thoughtful approach to Benedictine monasticism and St. Benedict as a model for the spiritual renewal of Europe. The aim of this paper is to analyze places in Joseph Ratzinger’s works as a theologian, and later as Pope Benedict XVI, on the importance of imitating St. Benedict and studying his testimonies in response to Europe’s current crisis of faith and culture. Analyzing the Enlightenment culture that led to the secularist understanding of a Europe in which the place for faith is only found through political compromise and a tolerance of faith as long as it remains on the margins of social action, rather than serving as the spiritual driving force, Pope Benedict sees Europe’s fundamental disorder in the reductionism of the Enlightenment, in which reason is limited to empirical positivism. The ultimate consequence is the loss of the foundations of public morality, the negation of human dignity and the loss of freedom in a dictatorship of relativism that contradicts the fundamental starting points of the Enlightenment—namely, the desire for open-mindedness to the whole of reality in which God is encountered as the basis of all that exists, true humanity, open to true freedom through obedience to the Word of God, and the restoration of the foundation of democracy.https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/447862St. BenedictPope Benedict XVIEuropeEnlightenmentpray and workfaith and culture |
| spellingShingle | Elvis Ražov St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVI Crkva u Svijetu St. Benedict Pope Benedict XVI Europe Enlightenment pray and work faith and culture |
| title | St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVI |
| title_full | St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVI |
| title_fullStr | St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVI |
| title_full_unstemmed | St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVI |
| title_short | St. Benedict: a response to the crisis of faith and culture in Europe according to Pope Benedict XVI |
| title_sort | st benedict a response to the crisis of faith and culture in europe according to pope benedict xvi |
| topic | St. Benedict Pope Benedict XVI Europe Enlightenment pray and work faith and culture |
| url | https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/447862 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elvisrazov stbenedictaresponsetothecrisisoffaithandcultureineuropeaccordingtopopebenedictxvi |