For some time it has been known that the pope was working on a book, and now the book’s publication has been announced:
Pope Benedict XVI has completed the first volume of a major scholarly and spiritual book on Jesus of Nazareth, a work he began several years before being elected pope.
"Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration" is scheduled for a March release in Italian by the Rizzoli publishing house and in German by Herder Verlag.
Announcing the publication Nov. 21, Rizzoli and the Vatican gave reporters copies of the book’s preface and a portion of its introduction.
In the preface, signed "Joseph Ratzinger — Benedict XVI," the pope wrote that for decades he had noticed a growing scholarly distinction between the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith," a distinction that many Christians now accept as accurate.
But, he wrote, if the human Jesus was totally different from the Jesus depicted in the Gospels and proclaimed by the church, what does it mean to have faith in him?
"I trust the Gospels," the pope wrote.
This book is intended to be the first part of a longer work, which apparently would have been published in one volume but is now envisioned for three. The pope wrote:
"Because I do not know how much time and how much strength I will still be given, I have decided to publish the first 10 chapters" as Volume One of "Jesus of Nazareth."
But the book is not an act of the papal magisterium, despite its author’s election to the papal see:
In a Nov. 21 statement, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, said, "The pope says clearly, with his usual simplicity and humility, that this is not a ‘magisterial act,’ but a fruit of his personal research and, as such, can be freely discussed and critiqued.
"It is not a long encyclical on Jesus, but a personal presentation of the figure of Jesus by the theologian Joseph Ratzinger," who was elected pope after beginning the work, Father Lombardi said.
This says volumes about the personal humility of the man who is now pope. To have the spiritual authority to mandate that every sentence in the book be believed by Catholics and to refuse to use it–to refuse to put forward one’s own ideas authoritatively–and to instead openly say that people are free to discuss those ideas and critique them–knowing even that they will meet hostility in many scholarly circles–is the mark of an extraordinarily humble man.
Which is one of the things that makes His Most Awesomeness B16 so most awesome.
Which is why B16 was the right man for the job. It shows that he takes the role of being the servant of the servants of God seriously and does not wish to use the position as a platform for merely advancing his personal preferences and ideas.
What I want to know is how soon Ignatius Press will have an English translation out.
In the meantime,
GET THE STORY.
