Introduction to Joseph Ratzinger’s Opera Omnia
Introduction to Joseph Ratzinger’s Opera Omnia

Summary/Abstract: Joseph Ratzinger’s famous work Introduction to Christianity (Ratzinger 1968a, 1968b) present-ed the essence and central teachings of the Christian religion. In the case of the “Introduction to JosephRatzinger’s Opera Omnia,” it is similarly a question of identifying the essence of the theology of thiscontemporary Church Father. Without a doubt, what constitutes this principle is the priority of God, notonly as Creator but also as Redeemer and Saviour. From this arises the second main dimension of Ratz-inger’s theology, namely man as a gift and a person, who is properly realized through originating fromGod (Urbild) whose most perfect image (Bild) is Jesus Christ, and whose reflection (Abbild) is man. Thus,man can ultimately be fulfilled only in God, in eternal life with him. And therefore, man’s origin, justifica-tion, and fulfillment is in God. He is God’s unfolding imago: naturae, gratiae et gloriae. God’s creation issaved and transformed by Christ’s redemption. This fulfillment of God’s plan for creation is expressedin the person of Mary. To better understand the central thought of Ratzinger’s theology, the author ofthe text proposes eleven key issues in a certain confrontation with the Italian theologian Bruno Forteand the Polish journalist Krzysztof Tomasik.

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