Emery de Gaal - O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVIs Theology (Renewal within Tradition)

PRAISE FOR O LORD, I SEEK YOUR COUNTENANCE

Cardinal Joachim Meisner famously described Joseph Ratzinger as the Mozart of theology. This book is likely to establish Fr. de Gal as the Liszt of Ratzinger interpreters. This presentation of Ratzinger/Benedicts many insights into the theological crises of our times is a virtuoso performance. It includes reference to some of the lesser known of Ratzingers interventions at the time of the Second Vatican Council, hitherto unpublished lectures from his period as a university professor, and highly penetrating expositions of Ratzingers better known high points of European Intellectuality. One can read this collection of essays and feel proud to be a Catholic. Intellectual rigor is matched with love for the subject and with an elegance in expression which can only be the fruit of the high culture of the Incarnation in its middle-European embodiment.

Tracey Rowland
University of Notre Dame (Australia)

Fr. Emery de Gals O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance will surely be indispensable reading for those wishing to understand both the shape and impact of Joseph Ratzingers thought. Not only does it survey an impressive range of Ratzingers published writings, both before and after his election as Benedict XVI, but it supplements these with heretofore unseen archival materials and the recollections of close collaborators. The author argues convincingly that Ratzingers theology centers on the concrete person of Christ, whose face the theologian must seek. I learned much in reading it!

Aaron Pidel, SJ
Marquette University

This is an impressive work. It blends compelling biographical detail with sustained theological insight and displays meticulous and exacting scholarship. Reading O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance will enable those with little knowledge of Benedict XVI to appreciate the big-picture significance of his work, but will also enlighten enthusiasts with a sophisticated interpretation of the Pope Emerituss contributions to fundamental theology. De Gal draws lavishly on a remarkable number of hitherto neglected or underappreciated texts and discloses startlingly new aspects by entering into the depth of Benedict XVIs engagement with perennial questions in theological epistemology.

Jacob Phillips
St. Marys University (UK)

RENEWAL WITHIN TRADITION

SERIES EDITOR: MATTHEW LEVERING

Matthew Levering is the James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology at Mundelein Seminary. Levering is the author or editor of over thirty books. He serves as coeditor of the journals Nova et Vetera and the International Journal of Systematic Theology.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Catholic theology reflects upon the content of divine revelation as interpreted and handed down in the Church, but today Catholic theologians often find the scriptural and dogmatic past to be alien territory. The Renewal within Tradition Series undertakes to reform and reinvigorate contemporary theology from within the tradition, with St. Thomas Aquinas as a central exemplar. As part of its purpose, the Series reunites the streams of Catholic theology that, prior to the Council, separated into neo-scholastic and nouvelle theologie modes. The biblical, historical-critical, patristic, liturgical, and ecumenical emphases of the Ressourcement movement need the dogmatic, philosophical, scientific, and traditioned enquiries of Thomism, and vice versa. Renewal within Tradition challenges the regnant forms of theological liberalism that, by dissolving the cognitive content of the gospel, impede believers from knowing the love of Christ.

PUBLISHED OR FORTHCOMING

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Randall B. Smith

Self Gift: Essays on Humanae Vitae and the Thought of John Paul II
Janet E. Smith

Aquinas on Beatific Charity and the Problem of Love
Christopher J. Malloy

Christ the Logos of Creation: Essays in Analogical Metaphysics
John R. Betz

On Love and Virtue: Theological Essays
Michael Sherwin, O.P.

The Culture of the Incarnation: Essays in Catholic Theology
Tracey Rowland

The Church of Christ: According to Vatican II
Stephen A. Hipp

The Trinitarian Wisdom of God:
Louis Bouyer on the God-world Relationship
Keith Lemna

The Love of God Poured Out:
Grace and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in St. Thomas Aquinas
John M. Meinert

Newman & Us: A Guide for Our Time
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One of the Trinity Has Suffered
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O LORD, I SEEK
YOUR COUNTENANCE

O LORD, I SEEK
YOUR COUNTENANCE

Explorations and Discoveries in
Pope Benedict XVIs Theology

EMERY DE GAL

Steubenville, Ohio
www.emmausacademic.com

Steubenville, Ohio

www.emmausacademic.com

A Division of The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology

Editor-in-Chief: Scott Hahn

1468 Parkview Circle

Steubenville, Ohio 43952

2018 Emery de Gal

All rights reserved. Published 2018

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gal Gyulai, Emery de, author.

Title: O Lord, I seek your countenance : explorations and discoveries in Pope Benedict XVIs theology / Emery de Gal.

Description: Steubenville : Emmaus Academic, 2018. | Series: Renewal within tradition

Identifiers: LCCN 2018017243 (print) | LCCN 2018023313 (ebook) | ISBN 9781947792852 (ebook) | ISBN 9781947792838 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781947792845 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Benedict XVI, Pope, 1927

Classification: LCC BX1378.6 (ebook) | LCC BX1378.6 .G29 2018 (print) | DDC 230/.2092--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018017243

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, copyright 2000, Libreria Editrice VaticanaUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C. Noted as CCC in the text.

Cover image: Christ Blessing (151215) by Andrea Previtali, The National Gallery, London, UK

Cover design and layout by Margaret Ryland

To Pope Benedict XVI
in gratitude for his erudite and lasting faith witness

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: The Christocentric Shift:
An Appreciation of the Theological Achievements of Pope Benedict XVIs Pontificate

Chapter 2: The Theologian Joseph Ratzinger at Vatican II:
His Theological Vision and Role

Chapter 3: Joseph Ratzingers Early Contributions to Fundamental Theology: