Episode 38: Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) - Interview with Tracey Rowland

Five Books for Catholics

The books recommended in this episode are:

1. Faith and Politics: Selected Writings by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI
2. A New Song for the Lord: Faith in Christ and Liturgy Today by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
3. What is Christianity?: The Last Writings by Benedict XVI
4. Fundamental Speeches from Five Decades by Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI
5. The Nature and Mission of Theology: Approaches to Understanding Its Role in the Light of Present Controversy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Five Books for Catholics may receive a commission from qualifying purchases made using the affiliate links to the books listed.

It is difficult to underestimate Joseph Ratzinger’s influence within the Church over the last sixty years. During the Second Vatican Council he made an important contribution as a theological expert (peritus) to the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum). He emerged from the Council as a leading Catholic theologian and, in 1972, helped found the journal Communio. In 1977, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and a cardinal. Five years later, St. John Paul II appointed him as Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. For over twenty years, Card. Ratzinger assisted the pontiff in issuing important doctrinal documents, drafting encyclicals, and overseeing the preparation of the magnificent Catechism of the Catholic Church. Finally, he was elected Bishop of Rome and exercised the Petrine ministry until his resignation in 2013.

On this first anniversary of Benedict XVI’s death, Prof. Tracey Rowland selects and discusses five of his books that we should read.

Professor Tracey Rowland holds the St John Paul II Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia. In 2001 she was appointed the Dean of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne, a position she held until 2017. She is a member of the editorial board of Communio: International Catholic Review and was appointed to the 9th International Theological Commission in 2014. In 2009 she was awarded the Archbishop Michael J Miller Award for the Promotion of Faith and Culture by the University of St. Thomas in Houston and in 2010 she was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 2020 she won the Ratzinger Prize for theology. In 2023 she was appointed to the Pontifical Academy of the Social Sciences. Her books include Culture and the Thomist Tradition (London: Routledge, 2003), Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Benedict XI (Oxford University Press, 2008), Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury, 2010),Catholic Theology (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), The Culture of the Incarnation: Essays in Catholic Theology (Steubenville: Emmaus Academic, 2017), Portraits of Spiritual Nobility (New York: Angelico, 2019) Beyond Kant and Nietzsche: The Munich Defence of Christian Humanism (London: Bloomsbury, 2021). She has published over 150 articles and is the English sub-editor of the forthcoming multilingual Ratzinger Lexikon.

Read the interview at ⁠www.fivebooksforcatholics.com/pope-benedict-xvi-joseph-ratzinger/

For more interviews like this, visit ⁠www.fivebooksforcatholics.com⁠

⁠Sign up ⁠to receive updates on the latest interview.

⁠Become a premium subscriber⁠ to listen to the full interview and have access to complete archive on the website.

If you have enjoyed this episode, please give the podcast a top rating.

You can also support this podcast by making a one-off tip or donations. Just click here.