The Ambivalence of the Reception of the Second Vatican Council in Light of the Judgement of Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI Cover Image

Ambivalentnost recepcije Drugoga vatikanskoga koncila u svjetlu prosudbe Josepha Ratzingera / Benedikta XVI.
The Ambivalence of the Reception of the Second Vatican Council in Light of the Judgement of Joseph Ratzinger / Benedict XVI

Author(s): Nedjeljka Valerija Kovač, Josip Vrsaljko
Subject(s): Philosophy of Religion, Systematic Theology, Hermeneutics
Published by: Katolički bogoslovni fakultet u Đakovu
Keywords: Joseph Ratzinger; Second Vatican Council; liturgical reform; the ecumenical movement; the Church reform; the Church and the modern world; hermeneutics of continuity;

Summary/Abstract: For several decades, Joseph Ratzinger critically observed the problem of the reception of the Second Vatican Council in the Church and in the world. The authors select and analyze six of his relevant texts and, in each of them, they noticed the guiding thought of his critique: the consequences of the liturgical reform, the Church’s relationship to the world, and the ecumenical movement in post-conciliar implementation; the irreconcilability of the plurality of thought and the unity of interpretation of the Council; visible post-conciliar undertakings in the Church with initial enthusiasm and later disappointment; the Council as a factor of post-conciliar crisis; and finally, the advantage of the hermeneutics of reform and continuity over the hermeneutics of discontinuity and breakage. Based on the above texts and topics, the authors notice Ratzinger’s main claim that the prevailing tendencies to conform the Church to the modern world are wrong and that proper reform only occurs if one follows the hermeneutics of continuity and reform.

  • Issue Year: 31/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 75-97
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Croatian