After a brief historical excursus, on Ratzinger’s masters and the historical sources of theology, I make reference to what I call the sources of his theology: Scripture, liturgy, the Church and the arts constitute starting points for his theology. Later come the so-called basics: first, the person, who presents his or her solidarity with faith and reason, truth and love. Ratzinger is deeply marked by the “experience of the Council”, the doctrine of which applies to ecumenism, the theology of the ministry and even ideas on preaching, eschatology and mariology. So, here I address the area of praxis: as a bishop, Ratzinger has developed his preaching on the theology of creation and the eucharistic mystery and, as prefect, his focus of interest has broadened towards the catechism, Christ and other religions, without forgetting a brief reflection on the Christian roots of Europe.

The Theology of Joseph Ratzinger: Nuclear Ideas

The problem of what, if anything, brings continuity of thought to the exhortations found in the New Testament Letter of James has perplexed, and continues to perplex interpreters of this letter. Indeed, for Martin Dibelius the literary character of this letter provided no opportunity for the development, or elaboration of religious ideas. In view of this fact, Dibelius concluded that the Letter of James has no theology. In this present consideration of James, it is demonstrated that Dibelius' view of James as lacking a developed theology is quite mistaken. In contrast to Dibelius' opinion, James' employment and development of convenant thought provides the letter with continuity of thought, as the author uses it to challenge the 'defective' theology of the implied audience, whilst establishing his own alternative theology.

The thesis proceeds by examining three aspects of covenant thought (God's character, the nature of the convenant relationship, and the threat of assimilation) in the context of the Old Testament and other Jewish sources. Then the indictment of the implied audience, found in Jas 4:1-6, is considered in order to establish whether or not covenant thought is a significant factor in James' theology. This consideration establishes that James employs and develops covenant thought, and on this basis the following chapters proceed to investigate the role this ideology performs in the exhortations of Jas 1-2. Finally, a summary analysis of the remainder of the letter (3:1-18; 4:7-5:20) confirms that covenant thought is influential throughout the whole letter. Consequently, it is evident that covenant thought performs a significant role in the theology and ethics of the Letter of James as he seeks to combat the 'defective' theology of the implied audience whose unfaithfulness is related to their misunderstanding of both God's character and their relationship to him.

Covenant loyalty and the goodness of God: a study in the theology of James

The Genre, Composition, and Hermeneutics of the Epistle of James

Foreword Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1 Introduction 2 A Canonical History of the New Testament Catholic Epistle Collection 3 Early James Traditions and the Canonical Letter of James 4 Reading James as a Canon-conscious Pseudepigraph 5 Conclusion Bibliography Index

Not By Paul Alone: The Formation of the Catholic Epistle Collection and the Christian Canon

This article examines 1 Thessalonians 2:14-6 as a site of collective Christian memory. Rather than approaching the text as a repository of Paul's memories and theology, the author approaches the text as monument and juxtaposes the text to three monuments (two ancient and one modern) in order to explore how the text organizes the reality of those who recognize it as somehow historically and/or affectively meaningful. Given that this text has proven dangerous as a site of the highly durable and widely legible "fact" that "the Jews killed Jesus," the article draws on studies of public monuments to trace out how the (re)invention and contestation of public memories are rhetorical-political practices that animate partisan versions of the past to (re)orientate communities in the present and thus shape their possible futures.

A monument to suffering : 1 Thessalonians 2:14-6, dangerous memory, and Christian identity

Der theologische Hintergrund des Jakobusbriefes

Dem vieldiskutierten Problem des Verhaltnisses von 1 Thess 2.15f. und Rom 11 wird hier unter dem Aspekt der Funktion des Topos vom verfolgten Propheten nachgegangen. Es zeigt sich, dass Paulus in den je verschiedenen konkreten Fragestellungen von 1 Thess 2.13–16 und Rom 11.1–10 das Motiv vom verfolgten Propheten einsetzt, um die Durchsetzungsfahigkeit des Evangeliums aufzuweisen. Die vermeintlichen Gegensatze zwischen 1 Thess 2.13–16 und Rom 11 sind dahingehend einander zuzuordnen, dass es Paulus sowohl im 1 Thess als auch im Rom primar um die Wirkmachtigkeit des Evangeliums geht, die die Behinderung der Rettung der Heiden uberwindet (1 Thess) und Israel letztlich der Rettung zufuhrt (Rom 11).

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S002868850400030X

Rudolf Hoppe

Papers

Der theologische Hintergrund des Jakobusbriefes

Der Topos der Prophetenverfolgung bei Paulus

Der “historische Jesus” aus der Sicht Joseph Ratzingers: Rückfragen von Neutestamendern zum päpstlichen Jesusbuch

Die Offenbarung des Johannes : Kommunikation im Konflikt