At present I am trying to read “Jesus of Nazareth” by Pope Benedict XVI, aka Prof Joseph Ratzinger.

The Pope writes that he gives "an expression of my personal search “for the face of the Lord”…Everyone is free, then, to contradict me” (pp xxiii, xxiv). So one can disagree with an infallible person!

The Pope shows a masterful grasp of modern biblical scholarship, making one realist how relatively little English speaking scholars have contributed to recent Biblical interpretations. He shows an appreciation of modern Catholic and non-Catholic scholarship, noting the limitations.

In CE we have been a bit harsh of Catholic academics and scholars, so it is good to see that the Pope is not wholly negative towards modern scholarship. How could he be being at the front rank of Biblical scholarship himself?

I am finding the book excellent but not easy going.

What do you think?

God bless,

NoelFitz. 

This is a good topic.  Our parish is taking orders for the book and offering at half-price $12.50 to encourage many people to read it.  I’m looking forward to reading Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger.

Our Sunday bulletin gives following short description of the book as the Pope’s answer to “Who was Jesus?”

In his new book the Pope shares a compelling portrait of Jesus that inspires readers to encounter, face to face, the central figure of the Christian faith.  The Pope believes that everything in Christianity depends on building an “intimate friendship with Jesus” and he shares his search for what he terms “the face of the Lord.”

The Pope invites Christians into his classroom and, among other things, asks them to pray more intelligently, to view the beatitudes as a roadmap for the church, and to read the Gospels both critically and with love.

I hear it is about Jesus.

Just kidding around. 

At this time I know very little about the work.  I hope to read it before the year is out but would gladly get a sneak peek through this thread.  Thanks everyone.

GK - God is good!

RE: "What is the view of the Catholic Church on this writing??"

If you mean the book that NoelFitz talked about in the beginning of the thread, you might reread his post carefully.  This book is by the present Pope. 

There are other books with this same title by the way; one was written by Bishop Sheen.  I've read that one and it is quite good.  It can still be obtained, although used, on the web.

Regards,

Old Sigma (Cradle Catholic & generally inveterate amateur)

grumpybumpas,

negative. What happened was not that at all. some pagans tried to takeover and did for some time. I don't recall the exact books which tell the incidents of each occurrence as there were a few. If you've read the bible at all, Jesus came to save sinners from death and eternal damnation. To setup a Church of true believers who promote this kind of teaching and lifestyle. Imitate. Unfortunately, Satan is not happy with this so he does his best to bash and thrash, discredit anything God is doing. It's starts with Genesis.

Have you ever seen a movie about medieval times where kings go about conquering? Roman empire was trying to silence Christians from telling men about God and His salvation for all mankind. They thought if we can silence these Christians who promote ways contrary to ours we would have total rule.

As far as wars, "can't remember there names at the moment" some of them were Turks, Muslims, enemies of the Church which are enemies of God, in some cases enemies of Christ, tried to extinguish Christianity with weapons. Wars were as a result of disputes which seemed necessary back then because that's all they knew and understood. A more barbaric time. Force their wills.

This is not the Churches stance. Killing is no no, and is of the 10 commandments which is very understood among "true believers" though some may waiver from time to time. It's the same with any vice. If you do not recognize vice, it is very apparent that you may be living in vice still. Some parts of it. If you drink water from a sparkling clean glass, you taste the contents rather than the grime left on the glass. We are the same. If we are not sparkling clean when God uses us to drink, He tastes the grime. This is just an analogy that is very closely related to how it is. Vice is the grime. Virtue is the contents.

But to be more precise vice is like the weeds that grow in your yard, ivy, honeysuckle, crab grass, they root in the soil in your soul and spread in it's various forms.  Identifying them can be troublesome.  

Virtue is like the great mustard tree, the rose flower, and other more elegant and pleasing to the eye and nose, minus the hybrids of man who tainted the seeds.  This can be like vice tainting the seeds, or virtue depending on the source.  The rose is thorny which is more widely used to depict.  When you grab it it pricks your hand at the stem.  God is the same.  When you come to Him, He pricks you to drain you of the poison in you.  The Cross is stem of thorns. Bleed out the poison.

(New kid on the block,just waiving a hand.)

Oh yes the Catholic church was a master killing machine for most of it's history.