Product Description

Written in late 2004 shortly before his election as Pope Benedict XVI, Ratzinger raises serious questions about the issues facing Europe amidst the new European Union and forming of a European Constitution.

Some of the main issues he raises include: How did Europe originate and what are its boundaries? Who has the right to call himself European and be admitted into the new Europe? What about the spiritual roots of Europe and the moral foundation she is founded on?

Ratzinger sees the lack of focus on these fundamental questions in the forming of a new Europe as a very serious dilemma for the future of Europe, and the world. The ties that Europe has to the USA, and the rest of the world make these questions and reflections by the current Pontiff of critical importance for facing the future together.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #552770 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 117 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781586171346
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
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Review
Pope Benedict XVI has long been an acute and compassionate analyst of the ills that beset Europe, a continent once the undisputed center of world civilization but now adrift and sinking in a post-modern fog. The Holy Father is more than a diagnostician, though. His prescription--a Europe that has rediscovered the human dignity implicit in its Christian roots while absorbing the best achievements of the Enlightenment--is applicable to the entire Western world as we face the challenge of a civilizational rival with a very different point of view of the human condition and human future. This small book gets the big questions of the 21st century exactly right. -- George Weigel

Customer Reviews

An Invitation for a Moral Rebirth
Ratzinger is at his finest- not writing above our heads as with some theological works, but as a teacher warning us about the inevitable consequences of our behavior.

A gentler version of The Cube & The Cathedral by Weigel, Ratzinger explains how the refusal of Europeans to accept their Christian roots is contributing to a declining culture. The text examines models of government, specifically the two totalitarian regimes of the previous century and insists that we allow the state to provide moral guidelines once again.

Finally, a good argument against the acceptance of Turkey into the EU is explained, drawing on the ancient history of this continent we call Europe today and how Christianity forged those boundaries, cultural identities and systems of faith.

This is a call to return to the moral center; a faith based civilization that was once great but has recently shunned the core that made it so. This is an example of how man's enlightenment and greatness should be accepted as gifts from God and therefore attributed as such.

"Is there a European identity that has a future?"
"Is there a European identity that has a future?" "Europe...is a cultural and historical concept," but many, it seems, appear to think otherwise. But "There is no such thing as an ahistorical State based on abstract reason.""Europe, precisely in this hour of its greatest success seems to have become hallowed out, paralyzed in a certain sense by a crisis of its circulatory system, a crisis that endangers its life, which depends, so to speak, on transplants, which then, however, cannot help undermining its identity." "Meanwhile, the manipulation of man by man is proceeding apace with even greater impudence. The visions of Huxley are definitely becoming a reality: the human being must be no longer begotten irrationally but rather produced rationally. But man as a product is at the disposal of man. The imperfect specimens are discarded, so as to develop the perfect man by way of planning and production." and "more and more often the principle of behavior is affirmed that states that it is permissible for man to do everything he is capable of doing."

"In a world that is understood in an evolutionary way, it is also self-evident that there cannot be any absolute values, things that are always bad or things that are always good; instead the weighing of goods is the only way to discern moral norms." "Whereas currently the once legendary success of the word revolution is on the decline, definite and far-reaching reforms are being demanded and promised all the more. One would have to conclude, however, that in modern society a deep sense of dissatisfaction predominates, and this precisely in places where well-being and freedom have reached a level heretofore unknown. The world is perceived as hard to endure; it must improve, and bringing this about seems to be the task of politics." In short, "Suffering must disappear; life must be nothing but pleasant." "Learning to live," however, Pope Benedict argues, "also means learning to suffer." Heaven is not possible on Earth, in other words. "A definitively well-run society would presuppose the end of freedom." And from freedom everything else comes. This is the subject of parts 3 & 4 of this albeit very short work: Responsibility for the Peace and Pope Benedict's reflections on "The occasion of the 60th anniversary of the landing of the Allied Forces in France (speeches he made during events commemorating such). "The process of reconciliation that has taken place in Europe, thanks in particular to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has changed the course of world history; this process has its origins in the Christian spirit." He instructs us that such a progression ought be respected and built upon; not cast aside. After all, Pope Benedict asks "...has the world really become brighter, freer, happier after setting God aside?"

In Pope Benedict's view, one of the primary reasons Islamists are hostile to the West is their perception of the West as Godless. Hence Pope Benedict's admonition that by being more religious/more respectful of our own religious heritage perhaps the West and Islamic states can move somewhat closer to each other; that we in the Judeo-Christian West may be able to moderate aspects of the Muslim faith by standing firm for Freedom. Abandoning Europe's faith, in contradistinction, is akin, in effect, to conceding the moral high ground to an otherwise respectable faith, but one which has not progressed much in the way of individual and women's rights; which does not respect individual freedom, nor a distinction between secular politics and faith. (07Jul) God Bless