Not Another Blog?! It's been around, but newly discovered by yours truly.
A blog after my own theological heart. Ressourcement: Restoration in Catholic Theology, formerly known as Sources Chétiennes~Renewal in Catholic Thought. Basically, a fanblog of the Ressourcement theologians, de Lubac, Congar, von Balthasar, Danielou, Bouyer, Ratzinger, and other disciples of this Catholic theological school of thought.
A quoted statement by Fr. Joseph Fessio in this entry to the question, "Father, could you please explain to me and the listeners what effect Balthasar, de Lubac and the other ressourcement theologians have had on Ratzinger’s theology?"
I can do that because as a matter of fact that’s how I got to know Father Ratzinger.
I was studying theology in France in 1969 and got to know Father Henri de Lubac-a wonderful Jesuit-priest theologian-who had done enormous amount of work in, not only…modern thought, but also studied the roots all the way back to the Bible… Greek philosophy and so on. He had a tremendous knowledge of the Fathers of the Church and began, along with Father Daniélou, Source Chrétiennes or Christian Sources, which was the republication of critical editions of the greatest works of antiquity and the Church.
So, it was in getting to know him that I had my introduction to the deepest theology of the Church, and when it came time to do my doctoral thesis I asked him … where should I go, and he said, “Go to Regensburg with Father Ratzinger-a wonderful theologian.” I asked him, “What should I do it on?” He said, “Oh, one of the great theologians of our time if not all time is Father Hans Urs von
Balthasar.”
Now, Balthasar was a Jesuit for a while, and became a diocesan priest. A Swiss theologian who probably has some of the most profound theological writings of the 20th century, and, I know that Father Ratzinger, at that time, was very, very close to both de Lubac and von Balthasar, as well as Father Bouyer, and Father Congar, and all these truly great theologians about the middle of the 20th century.
And if you notice, when the Holy Father addresses a subject-almost any subject-he will first state the…contemporary problem in the sharpest way possible, then he will almost always go immediately back to Scripture, and take a passage from the Old Testament or the New and he will give an interpretation, but then he’ll show how that was developed and interpreted over time in the Fathers of the Church, in the Scholastic period, and what happened in the modern period, and so on… the method, which we call here at Ave Maria University, the “sapiential method”, where you really have to get to know the great minds and hearts of tradition, including pagan tradition: Aristotle, Plato… and then the literary tradition… of Homer … and Dante.
That’s the kind of formation that Ratzinger had. It’s the formation that de Lubac and von Balthasar had, and so all three of them were part of this ressourcement movement, which is to try and revivify theology by going back and… immersing oneself in the best of the authors…
May not be your cup-o-tea, commonreader, at least not while you're cranky.
A quoted statement by Fr. Joseph Fessio in this entry to the question, "Father, could you please explain to me and the listeners what effect Balthasar, de Lubac and the other ressourcement theologians have had on Ratzinger’s theology?"
I can do that because as a matter of fact that’s how I got to know Father Ratzinger.
I was studying theology in France in 1969 and got to know Father Henri de Lubac-a wonderful Jesuit-priest theologian-who had done enormous amount of work in, not only…modern thought, but also studied the roots all the way back to the Bible… Greek philosophy and so on. He had a tremendous knowledge of the Fathers of the Church and began, along with Father Daniélou, Source Chrétiennes or Christian Sources, which was the republication of critical editions of the greatest works of antiquity and the Church.
So, it was in getting to know him that I had my introduction to the deepest theology of the Church, and when it came time to do my doctoral thesis I asked him … where should I go, and he said, “Go to Regensburg with Father Ratzinger-a wonderful theologian.” I asked him, “What should I do it on?” He said, “Oh, one of the great theologians of our time if not all time is Father Hans Urs von
Balthasar.”
Now, Balthasar was a Jesuit for a while, and became a diocesan priest. A Swiss theologian who probably has some of the most profound theological writings of the 20th century, and, I know that Father Ratzinger, at that time, was very, very close to both de Lubac and von Balthasar, as well as Father Bouyer, and Father Congar, and all these truly great theologians about the middle of the 20th century.
And if you notice, when the Holy Father addresses a subject-almost any subject-he will first state the…contemporary problem in the sharpest way possible, then he will almost always go immediately back to Scripture, and take a passage from the Old Testament or the New and he will give an interpretation, but then he’ll show how that was developed and interpreted over time in the Fathers of the Church, in the Scholastic period, and what happened in the modern period, and so on… the method, which we call here at Ave Maria University, the “sapiential method”, where you really have to get to know the great minds and hearts of tradition, including pagan tradition: Aristotle, Plato… and then the literary tradition… of Homer … and Dante.
That’s the kind of formation that Ratzinger had. It’s the formation that de Lubac and von Balthasar had, and so all three of them were part of this ressourcement movement, which is to try and revivify theology by going back and… immersing oneself in the best of the authors…
May not be your cup-o-tea, commonreader, at least not while you're cranky.