The Pontificate of Benedict XVI: Its Premises and Promises.

Rausch, Thomas P.

THE PONTIFICATE OF BENEDICT XVI: ITS PREMISES AND PROMISES. Edited by William G. Ruseh. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2009. Pp v + 173. $24.

Rusch's collection examines Pope Benedict's thought from various ecumenical perspectives. Each contributor was asked (1) to reflect on how Joseph Ratzinger's life and theology will influence his pontificate, (2) to clarify Benedict's theological vision, and (3) to encourage him along needed paths. Dale Irvin (Baptist) moves from Benedict's now famous Regensburg lecture, defending the historic synthesis of philosophical reason with biblical faith, to what he sees in Dominus Iesus as a horizon too narrowly limited to Europe. Irvin sees the way forward in a greater embrace of pluralism and diversity. Ephraim Radner (Episcopalian) is also concerned with pluralism. He suggests that Anglieanism's ability to live with "multiple consciences" in a pluralistic society, relying on persuasion rather than authority, might offer a providential message for the Catholic Church. Harding Meyer (Lutheran), after reviewing Benedict's career, finds him, despite his long battle against relativism, to have a great capacity for dialogue, though Meyer challenges Benedict's view that the church is less important for Protestants, due to a "subjeetivization" of the act of faith. Geoffrey Wainwright draws on Benedict's homilies, sermons, and first two encyclicals to unpack his views on salvation and Christ's redeeming death. Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh (Greek Orthodox), in a polemical essay, rejects Benedict's theology of a "universal ecclesiology" and a "universal church." Cheryl Bridges Johns (Pentecostal) repeats John Mackay's remark that the future of Christianity may lie with a reformed Catholicism and a mature Pentecostalism. Joseph Small (Presbyterian), while commending Benediet's passionate commitment to the truth, rejects the notion that Protestant churches are merely "ecclesial communities," particularly as articulated by Dominus Iesus. Finally, Sara Butler (Roman Catholic) explores Benedict's favorite devotional image, that of the pierced heart of Christ. A postscript comes from the late Richard John Neuhaus (convert to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism).

There are a few inaccuracies. Harding Meyer repeats the story that radical students snatched the microphone from Ratzinger at Tubingen in 1968, something that Ratzinger himself has denied. Metropolitan Maximos takes as the ground for reconciliation between Catholics and Orthodox Ratzinger's statement that "Rome must not demand from the East more recognition of the doctrine of primacy than was known and practiced in the first millennium" (86-87), though Ratzinger himself has since corrected how that statement has been interpreted. But this is a very helpful collection of essays, each substantive, critical, and appreciative.

THOMAS P. RAUSCH, S.J.

Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles