EUROPE IN CRISIS: A QUESTION OF BELIEF OR UNBELIEF? PERSPECTIVES FROM THE VATICAN1

For Joseph Ratzinger, elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, modernity has transformed Europe into a continent without God. As a result, Europe's self‐understanding is flawed. This outcome puts serious doubts on the Church's resolution, expressed in Gaudium et spes, to dialogue with the modern world. Moreover, the present pope was among the first to warn both church and society against the erosion of modernity. Also more recently, e.g. in his Values in a Time of Upheaval, he argued that only a Europe firmly rooted in Christian faith can survive the nihilism and moral crisis with which it is confronted. As a creative minority Christians should help Europe win back the best of its heritage and use it to the service of all humanity. In this contribution Boeve presents the evolution and primary features of Joseph Ratzinger's thought in this regard and concludes with a number of critical observations.     

Revelation,Scripture and Tradition: Lessons from Vatican II's Constitution Dei verbum for Contemporary Theology

For Roman Catholic systematic theology, any reflection on the relation between revelation, Scripture and tradition has to take into account the dogmatic constitution of the Second Vatican Council concerning this theme: Dei verbum. In this document, the dialogical nature of these fundamental theological concepts has been accentuated. Revelation, but also Scripture and tradition, are historical dynamic givens that reveal a salvific God at work in our history, both through Christ and in the Spirit. In conversation with Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, both the coming into being of this document and its main assets are discussed. Moreover, it will be Dei verbum's reception, and especially the difficulties subsequently encountered to uphold and institutionally anchor the dialogical nature of revelation, tradition, theology and the magisterium that are also commented upon. Inasmuch, however, as Dei verbum has become a part of tradition for the Roman Catholic Church, a reading and rereading of this tradition requires the same dialogical hermeneutical principles which Dei verbum itself presents and requires.