{"id":15130,"date":"2012-06-14T10:46:46","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T16:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=15130"},"modified":"2012-06-15T23:07:23","modified_gmt":"2012-06-16T05:07:23","slug":"ratzingerbenedict-xvi-on-the-marian-dogmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/06\/14\/ratzingerbenedict-xvi-on-the-marian-dogmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Ratzinger\/Benedict XVI on the Marian Dogmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is interesting, and not exactly what I expected from Joseph Ratzinger\/Pope Benedict XVI.<\/p>\n

Wolfgang Bergmann reports in <\/a>Der Standard<\/a> <\/em>(Vienna) on Ratzinger\u2019s writings on the Virgin Birth. In 1977, as archbishop of Munich, he published the book Die Tochter Zion<\/em> (\u201cDaughter Zion\u201d), which contains five lectures he had given five years earlier in Puchberg, Austria. Here, he retracts what he had written in his famous Introduction to Christianity<\/em> in 1968. Tochter Zion<\/em> has this passage:<\/p>\n

[T]he Virgin Birth is the necessary origin of him who is the Son, and who therein it also gives to the messianic hope a lasting meaning pointing beyond Israel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A footnote explains:<\/p>\n

With this I wish to place clear limits around my often-quoted statement in Introduction to Christianity<\/em> (Munich, 1968, p. 225), according to which Jesus\u2019s divine sonship would not intrinsically exclude his coming from a normal marriage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bergmann comments:<\/p>\n

\u00a0A perfectionistic university professor has the heart for a retraction only in fine print. And he does not take back the statement, but rather places limits around it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here is what Ratzinger had written in 1968:<\/p>\n

\u00a0According to the Church\u2019s faith, the divine sonship does not rest upon Jesus having had no human father; the teaching on Jesus\u2019 divinity would not be affected if Jesus had come forth from an entirely normal marriage. For the divine sonship of which faith speaks is not a biological datum, but an ontological datum.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the Puchberg lecture, Ratzinger maintains the Virgin Birth as a real fact of history. He says that to deny this fact would be to take a dead-end.<\/p>\n

But there is more.<\/p>\n

In Tochter Zion<\/em>, Archbishop Ratzinger defends the Virgin Birth. But at the same time, he offers a relativizing interpretation of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Page 73 says that this dogma does not concern a historical datum, but rather \u201can act of veneration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bergmann comments:<\/p>\n

[W]hile Ratzinger cements in one dogma, he relativizes another one so much that he thereby sets an important precedent for future popes\u2026 With this, Benedict has the potential to be a trailblazer for a modern theology that he never cared for during his time as prefect of the doctrinal congregation in the previous pontificate \u2013 didn\u2019t he?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All translations from German by AWR from the Austrian news report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Benedict has the potential to be a trailblazer for a modern theology that he never cared for during his time as prefect of the doctrinal congregation in the previous pontificate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28,362],"tags":[2069],"class_list":["post-15130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope-benedict-xvi","category-saints-mary","tag-wolfgang-bergmann"],"yoast_head":"\nRatzinger\/Benedict XVI on the Marian Dogmas - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2012\/06\/14\/ratzingerbenedict-xvi-on-the-marian-dogmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ratzinger\/Benedict XVI on the Marian Dogmas - 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