Thesis advisor: Khaled Anatolios / Based upon his role as a peritus at Vatican II in the shaping of the Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, Ratzinger reflected back on the deliberations at the Council soon after its conclusion and indicated that the new development of understanding of Revelation was that Revelation is to be seen "basically as dialogue." In his Introduction to Christianity, he would indicate that because of the experience of Jesus Christ, the Church comes to see that God is not only logos, but dia-logos. Throughout his theological and pastoral career, Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, consistently relies upon the framework of "dialogue" as the principle of coherence for how he attempts to articulate the one Christian mystery, whether he is speaking of Revelation, Christology, ecclesiology, eschatology or any other area of Christian theology. I attempt in this dissertation, to trace that principle of coherence in his thought and thereby give a hermeneutic for approaching one of the most influential theologians of our time. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Joseph Ratzinger, who led the Catholic Church as Pope Benedict XVI from 2005 to 2013, is a well-respected and published theologian. Much of his writing centers on the liturgy, and he has addressed the topic of music several times. His theological understanding of liturgical music and its application to the pipe organ together with its repertoire is the focus of this dissertation. The first two chapters deal with Ratzinger’s theological writings on the liturgy and sacred music as well as their significance for the pipe organ. Several themes emerge in his writings. These reveal Ratzinger’s understanding of the liturgy and are identified as characteristics of true liturgical music. Though he rarely speaks directly about the organ, these characteristics, namely, cosmos, logos, mystery, and history can be connected with both the instrument and its repertoire. In chapters three through five, select pieces from the masterworks of the Catholic organ tradition, Frescobaldi’s Fiori Musicali, Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique, and Langlais’ Livre Oecumenique, are analyzed and interpreted in light of Ratzinger’s theology. The organ has also been used as an accompanimental instrument and for improvisation in the liturgy. This is considered in chapters six and seven. In chapter eight, attention is given to the pipe organ itself, and the instrument is found to be a symbol of the same theological concepts Ratzinger associates with the liturgy. The last chapter provides a summary and indicates the implications of Ratzinger’s theology for the liturgical role of the pipe organ today. This comprehensive examination of Ratzinger’s theology of liturgical music and the pipe organ with its liturgical repertoire, which includes written compositions, accompaniment, and improvisation, reveals the relationship between them. The organ itself embodies Ratzinger’s themes of cosmos, logos, mystery, and history and is therefore the ideal liturgical instrument, indeed, the king of musical instruments. Through analysis, certain musical characteristics are discovered that can be said to exemplify elements of liturgical theology. Ultimately, Ratzinger’s liturgical theology assigns value to the historic role of the organ in the liturgy and illuminates the worth and relevance of the Church’s treasury of sacred organ music.

Trilogy Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI from the perspective of fundamental theology In this thesis, the author aims to finding interesting topics in the trilogy, Jesus of Nazareth of Pope Benedict XVI and their contribution to fundamental theology. The author takes into account the other sources from theological work of Joseph Ratzinger and his production as Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI. Work represents the view of Joseph Ratzinger on the use of empirical methods, particularly the historical-critical method in the study of the Scripture, the historical credibility of the Gospel of John and his authorship and the internal process of the text in Church. The thesis also discusses the benefits of the Gospel of John for internal knowledge of Jesus Christ and draws conclusions from the empirical reductionism for understanding Jesus' divinity. The author then discusses the topic of truth and love as the possibility of recognizing their source in God. Marginally mentions the role of the Virgin Mary and her helping to the study of Scripture and deepen relations between Christians and Christ.

Trilogy Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI from the perspective of fundamental theology In this thesis, the author aims to finding interesting topics in the trilogy, Jesus of Nazareth of Pope Benedict XVI and their contribution to fundamental theology. The author takes into account the other sources from theological work of Joseph Ratzinger and his production as Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI. Work represents the view of Joseph Ratzinger on the use of empirical methods, particularly the historical-critical method in the study of the Scripture, the historical credibility of the Gospel of John and his authorship and the internal process of the text in Church. The thesis also discusses the benefits of the Gospel of John for internal knowledge of Jesus Christ and draws conclusions from the empirical reductionism for understanding Jesus' divinity. The author then discusses the topic of truth and love as the possibility of recognizing their source in God. Marginally mentions the role of the Virgin Mary and her helping to the study of Scripture and deepen relations between Christians and Christ.

This study offers an ecumenical exploration of human transformation through the examination of this topic in the thought of Karl Barth (1888-1968), a Swiss Reformed theologian; Joseph Ratzinger (b. 1927), a Roman Catholic theologian; and John Zizioulas (b. 1931), a Greek Orthodox theologian. Describing and understanding human transformation stands as a crucial task for theology because no one is simply born a Christian—in order to be a Christian one must become a Christian. The first chapter introduces this topic, the three theologians (highlighting their commonalities), and the three questions that guide the analysis of each theologian and the thesis as a whole: What is the goal of human transformation? What is the basis of human transformation? How are humans transformed? Chapters 2, 3, and 4 treat the topic of human transformation in the theology of Barth, Ratzinger, and Zizioulas, respectively. All three understand the goal of human transformation to be the prayer of the children of God, and locate its basis in God’s reconciling act in Jesus Christ—an act itself based in the primordial divine decision to be God pro nobis. Even within this broad agreement, however, differences are evident, especially with regard to eschatology. Consideration of how this transformation occurs reveals significant differences concerning the agency of Jesus Christ in relation to the Holy Spirit and the church. The final chapter explores 1) the convergences and divergences between Barth, Ratzinger, and Zizioulas regarding human transformation; 2) the contributions of this study to the interpretation of Barth, Ratzinger, and Zizioulas; and 3) the relationship between human transformation and participation in God. Throughout, attention is given to the relationship between Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, the eschaton, and the triunity of God and human transformation. All three accounts of human transformation point beyond the transition between sinful and redeemed humanity to a dynamic anthropology in which the constant asking, receiving, thanking, and asking again is the very “ontological location” of the eschatological life of humanity: our being is in becoming.

Cette thèse répond au défi lancé par Benoît XVI (2009), qui avait appelé toutes les personnes de bonne volonté à réfléchir sur le rôle de la gratuité dans l’économie et la société. Nous avons tâché de relever ce défi sur le plan scientifique, avec les outils et les démarches de l’analyse économique. Sur la base d’une revue systématique de la littérature économique portant sur la gratuité, nous avons essayé de rassembler des éléments pour donner un contenu à une « théorie des biens économiques gratuits ». Cette démarche nous a permis de définir ces biens gratuits, leurs formes et manifestations, et de comprendre leurs principales causes et conséquences. Une attention particulière a été accordée à l’étude de la « gratuité non intentionnelle », omniprésente dans la vie économique. Cette forme de gratuité émane, d’un côté, spontanément du processus de production et, d’un autre côté, des activités des entrepreneurs et des génies créatifs. Une implication forte de ce résultat est que la recherche de profit, stimulus de l’entrepreneur, n’est pas en soi opposée à la production de biens économiques gratuits ; bien au contraire, elle en est une cause. Peu d’économistes apprécient la gratuité non intentionnelle à sa juste valeur. En exagérant la portée réelle de conceptions théoriques telle la maximisation du profit et la concurrence atomistique, la plupart des économistes en appellent à l’État pour limiter les activités marchandes et pour assurer la production de biens économiques gratuits. Il est donc vrai, mais dans un sens assez paradoxal, que l’économie de marché pourrait s’ouvrir davantage à la gratuité si les économistes eux-mêmes travaillaient moins à la réduire dans ce champ. / Benedict XVI (2009) has called upon all persons of goodwill to reflect upon the role of gratuitousness in economy and society. The present thesis responds to that challenge on the level of scientific inquiry, with the tools and the methods of economic analysis. Starting from a systematic review of the economic literature dealing with gratuitousness, we have tried to assemble conceptual elements to build a “theory of gratuitous economic goods”. Thus we have defined the nature of such gratuitous goods, their forms and manifestations, and analysed their principal causes and consequences. We have bestowed particular attention to the study of “unintentional gratuitousness” – an omnipresent phenomenon in economic life. This form of gratuitousness emanates, on the one hand, spontaneously from the market process and, on the other hand, from the activities of entrepreneurs and creative geniuses. A strong implication of this finding is that the profit motive, the stimulus of entrepreneurial action, is not per se in opposition to the production of gratuitous economic goods; quite to the contrary, it is one of their causes. Few economists have understood the nature and role of unintentional gratuitousness. Most of them, by exaggerating the scope of theoretical concepts such as the maximization of profits and atomistic competition, call for the government to limit the scope of for-profit activities and to promote the production of gratuitous economic goods. Thus it is true, though in a quite paradoxical sense, that the market economy could allow for much more gratuitousness if only the economists themselves did less to prevent this from happening.

The Master's Thesis deals with the issue of solitude of seniors. It examines the solitude from theological, psychological and sociological point of view and seeks inspiration in the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church. It tries to understand the position of Benedict XVI. who says that the most painful kind of poverty is solitude. The acquired knowledge is then viewed through the optic of social work and possible solutions of the problem of solitude of seniors are suggested.

The Pope's visits are important social, political, and media events. The pope always comes to the host country with a predetermined agenda, not unlike the one for state visits by politicians. The Pope's speeches are at the center of the public part of the agenda. This thesis aims to analyze the messages that the two popes presented to the nation and the world during their visits to Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. And also how the media captured, interpreted, and brought these messages to their audiences. The results show that the popes emphasized several topics, from spiritual renewal, return to tradition, reorganization of the Church to the commemoration of Christianity as the basis of European culture. However, the media largely ignored these frames, because even the use of frames does not guarantee preferred decoding. The analysis of selected newspapers showed that the papal messages were spread the best in Lidové noviny, a paper focused on strong opinion texts. This is all the more surprising because Lidové noviny was built on the traditional anti-Catholic tradition. The narrowly focused Catholic weekly did not spread the message to such an extent. In the case of the mainstream Mladá fronta Dnes, the form of the visit prevailed over the content, and the main role was played by the...

Working in its first part introduces the basic points of Marian spirituality. It shows her sources in the Old and New Testaments. The following are presented and analyzed its theological basis and are also compared various doctrinal truth doctrine of the Virgin Mary looking chosen saints of important theological figures with attitudes Joseph Ratzinger - Pope Benedict XVI. In the second half of the work is shown in the way he lived and understood Marian spirituality during his pontificate. The final section is intended to Benedict's thoughts, which are developed by individual elements of Marian devotion.

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