Summary
Title: Let God's Light Shine Forth: The Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI
Author: edited by Robert Moynihan
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 0385507925
Pro:
• Benedict XVI explains his beliefs in his own words
• Well organized
Con:
• Passages are short and without context
• Biographical sketch of Benedict is too uncritical
Description:
• Collections of passages from Benedict’s earlier writings, organized by topic
• Short biographical sketch, also relying heavily on Benedict’s own words
• Provides examples of Benedict’s spiritual side
Book Review
Perhaps one of the most basic steps in this process is to make it clear that, even as prefect for the Vatican office once known as the Holy Inquisition, Ratzinger was an involved and active theologian who wrote extensively, not to counter the perceived errors of others, but to share all of the good things he saw in Christianity and Catholicism. Benedict cannot credibly alter people’s perception of him, though, if it appears to be a public relations effort that has no roots in his past.
This appears to be the goal of Robert Moynihan’s Let God's Light Shine Forth: The Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI. Moynihan starts out with an uncritical and at times almost fawning biography of Ratzinger, but the bulk of the book is a collection of passages from Benedict’s previous writings and speeches organized according to topic.
The uncritical nature of Moynihan’s account of Ratzinger’s life is definitely a drawback. Ratzinger is not perfect and it can’t be claimed that he hasn’t made any missteps in his career, but the absence of any critical engagement with possible missteps suggests that Moynihan is simply trying to make the current pope look good rather than provide people with a deeper understanding of his theology and actions.
At the same time, though, Moynihan is not trying to be a biographer; he is listed as “editor” because most of the book, including the “introduction,” consists of material written by Benedict and collected by Moynihan. Thus, Moynihan is in a sense not 100% responsible — he’s often more a transciptionist than an author.
The passages written by Benedict XVI cover topics like faith, morality, marriage, social justice, sin, death, and of course God. The earliest quote I saw came from 1984, with most coming from the late 1990s or later. You’ll find nothing from his early career in the 1960s, which is significant given the fact that the younger Ratzinger was more liberal and had a different perspective on role of church institutions at the time.
John L. Allen, Jr., in his biography of Joseph Ratzinger, compares and contrasts earlier and later statements but I can imagine that one might be able to construct a very interesting book around that as its theme.
All of the quotes are relatively short and lacking context. This is a negative from an academic perspective because it doesn’t allow for a very deep understanding of what Benedict is trying to say. It is, however, good in the sense that it makes this a much easier introduction to Benedict’s ideas. Benedict is a theologian with very complex writings that aren’t readily accessible to the average reader. This way they at least get an idea of his arguments and pointers to where they can read more.
This is an introduction to the ideas and writings of Pope Benedict XVI, once Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, not a detailed study of his theological works, and as such works quite well. People looking for the latter sort of work won’t find it here — I only know of one such book in English right now, but I hope that we’ll see more in the near future.
