Values in a Time of Upheaval

by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

In Values in the Time of Upheaval , Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) brings together his most important views on the crucial question of where we find our values and how we act to put them into practice in our personal and private lives. In chapters on the history and destiny of human life, the author covers such topics as the dangers of secularism, the meaning of truth in a pluralistic world, the basis of human morality, the foundations of a good society, and the Christian basis for true hope and love.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Catholic, Philosophy, Christianity, Politics, Essays

172 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jarick Nijman · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting read because of the themes of norms values and cultures it touches. However, a bit to black and white for me: either morality is empty and we are no better than the nazis or be catholic (not literally how he says it, but it was what I felt). The last chapter about what our job as christians is in this world was a bit anticlimactic.

[Nicolo DS · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Es gibt Pathologien der Religion […] und es gibt Pathologien der Vernunft […]. Und beide Pathologien sind Lebensgefährlich für den Frieden.“

[Torp Moniantt]

Kratka knjižica velikog mislioca novog doba, možda i najvećeg.
Opis knjige je zaista ono o čemu se radi u knjizi pa nije potrebno tu ništa dodavati.
Benedikt XVI piše lijepo i razumljivo, ne gubi se u širini, niti je previše uzak. Amaterski filozofi (kakvim se na neki način smatram) shvatit će pročitano bez problema i moći tome pridodati svoja razmišljanja, bilo slagali se s piscem ili ne. Benedikt XVI daje dovoljno materijala i obrazlaže ga nekom finom strukturom i redoslijedom tako da je lako pratiti njegov tijek misli. Tema je jako zanimljiva u današnje vrijeme gdje se mnogi pozivaju na savjest, a mnogima se pravo na nju i krši i zabranjuje.

Osobno mi se jako sviđa razmišljanje pape emeritusa, kako o ovoj temi tako i o mnogočemu ostalome, i imam jako pozitivno mišljenje o njemu kao osobi, papi, misliocu i piscu, iako sam svjestan da nije u svemu bio u pravu, niti da je u svemu ispravno postupao. Ne mogu ni zamisliti teret koji je nosio kroz život, težinu odluka i odgovornosti (ovdje ne priznajem argumente "pa mogao je ovo ili ono..."), ali vjerujem da mogu prosuditi kako će pred Bogom on biti pravedan čovjek, ma koliko se sam smatrao bijednim i običnim, ili koliko ga drugi napadali.

[Henryk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone with even an iota of Christianity in their soul - or for that matter any other faith or secular credo - should read this!

[David Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Times of upheaval

I love reading books by (pope Benedict XVI). I always come away feeling like I've learned something important, something everyone should know. I always come away feeling smarter.I miss him, hopefully he will still write more books. Very thought provoking. Loved the book.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely a wonderful book. It is very scholarly as all Pope Benedict’s writings. Most of these speech/homily excerpts were taken from 1992 - 2004. Even though that is not terribly long ago, they seem prophetic. The chapters are not that long. I suggest reading one chapter at a sitting and giving yourself time to process what has been read. There sometimes seems to be a lot to digest but the writing is amazing in its directness and in discerning why people do the things they do. I’m amazed at his accuracy in foretelling future events that are happening now. One thing he didn’t predict is a pontificate such as that of Pope Francis’ which seems to have allowed or provoked the acceleration of the demise of our civilization. Every person who is interested in being a public servant should read this book.

[Othy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recently I've stumbled across a few books that, when I picked them up, thought they to be simple philosophy, but instead they turned out to be speeches given written form. Most of them were good, though in this case I was disappointed. Perhaps these speeches (or "repsonses" as the author writes in the introduction) were better in their original form. I felt good things were said, but not really anything discussed in full. The author also seemed to be somewhat...wayward in his writing, and I couldn't tell much of what he was getting at.

[Lisa Cindrich]

Of course, all my ILLs came in at once. Better hop to.