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Faith and the Future
Increasingly, the future is becoming a theme for theological reflection. In the background we can detect a growing concern among many people for the future of faith. Does faith have any future at all, and, if so, where in all the confusion of today's trends will we discover its embryo?
But the problem of the future assails not only the believer. In the ever more rapidly advancing process of historical evolution, man is confronted with enormous opportunities, but also with colossal perils. For him, the future is not only hope, but sorrow-a nightmare, indeed. He cannot avoid asking what part faith can play in building tomorrow's world. Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, approaches this problem of universal concern from a variety of angles, bringing his deep personal faith and theological brilliance to bear on these serious questions.
But the problem of the future assails not only the believer. In the ever more rapidly advancing process of historical evolution, man is confronted with enormous opportunities, but also with colossal perils. For him, the future is not only hope, but sorrow-a nightmare, indeed. He cannot avoid asking what part faith can play in building tomorrow's world. Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, approaches this problem of universal concern from a variety of angles, bringing his deep personal faith and theological brilliance to bear on these serious questions.
118 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Pope Benedict XVI
940 books981 followersOriginally
Joseph Ratzinger
, a noted conservative theologian before his election in 2005, Benedict XVI strove against the influence of secularism during his papacy to defend traditional Catholic teachings but since medieval times first resigned in 2013.
After Joseph Ratzinger served a long career as an academic and a professor at the University of Regensburg, Pope Paul VI appointed him as archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, one most important office of the Roman curia. He also served as dean of the college of cardinals.
Benedict XVI reigned 265th in virtue of his office of bishop of Rome, the sovereign of the state of Vatican City and the head of the Church. A conclave named him on 19 April 2005; he celebrated his inaugural Mass on 24 April 2005 and took possession of his Lateran cathedral basilica of Saint John on 7 May 2005.
Benedict XVI succeeded Saint John Paul II, predecessor and his prolific writings on doctrine and values. Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increase of many developed countries. Relativism denied objective truth and moral truths in particular; he viewed this central problem of the 21st century. With the importance of the Church, he understood redemptive love of God. He reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism" "of many Christians engaged in charitable work." Benedict also revived a number and elevated the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position.
Benedict founded and patronized of the Ratzinger foundation, a charitable organization, which from the sale of books and essays makes money to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Due to advanced age on 11 February 2013, Benedict announced in a speech in Latin and cited a "lack of strength of mind and body" before the cardinals. He effectively left on 28 February 2013.As emeritus, Benedict retained the style of His Holiness, and the title and continued to dress in the color of white. He moved into the newly renovated monastery of Mater Ecclesiae for his retirement. Pope Francis succeeded him on 13 March 2013.
(more info on Ratzinger Foundation: https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology...)
After Joseph Ratzinger served a long career as an academic and a professor at the University of Regensburg, Pope Paul VI appointed him as archbishop of Munich and Freising and cardinal in 1977. In 1981, he settled in Rome as prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, one most important office of the Roman curia. He also served as dean of the college of cardinals.
Benedict XVI reigned 265th in virtue of his office of bishop of Rome, the sovereign of the state of Vatican City and the head of the Church. A conclave named him on 19 April 2005; he celebrated his inaugural Mass on 24 April 2005 and took possession of his Lateran cathedral basilica of Saint John on 7 May 2005.
Benedict XVI succeeded Saint John Paul II, predecessor and his prolific writings on doctrine and values. Benedict XVI advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increase of many developed countries. Relativism denied objective truth and moral truths in particular; he viewed this central problem of the 21st century. With the importance of the Church, he understood redemptive love of God. He reaffirmed the "importance of prayer in the face of the activism" "of many Christians engaged in charitable work." Benedict also revived a number and elevated the Tridentine Mass to a more prominent position.
Benedict founded and patronized of the Ratzinger foundation, a charitable organization, which from the sale of books and essays makes money to fund scholarships and bursaries for students across the world.
Due to advanced age on 11 February 2013, Benedict announced in a speech in Latin and cited a "lack of strength of mind and body" before the cardinals. He effectively left on 28 February 2013.As emeritus, Benedict retained the style of His Holiness, and the title and continued to dress in the color of white. He moved into the newly renovated monastery of Mater Ecclesiae for his retirement. Pope Francis succeeded him on 13 March 2013.
(more info on Ratzinger Foundation: https://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology...)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 16, 2023
I can’t recommend this book enough. I know I’m very late to the party on it. I bought it years ago at a thrift store and it just sat on the shelf until the day before yesterday. Not sure why I picked it up off the shelf but I’m glad I did.
I don’t know that there is a better book on the challenges to faith in the modern world or what the faith and it’s practice might look like in the future.
You should read the book but I’ll end with just a few (long) quotations.
Ratzinger on faith:
“Let us repeat: at its core, faith is, not a system of knowledge, but trust. Christian faith is: the finding of a "you' that upholds me and amid all the unfulfilled -and in the last resort unfulfil-lable-hope of human encounters gives me the promise of an indestructible love that not only longs for eternity but also guarantees it. Christian faith lives on the discovery that not only is there such a thing as objective meaning but that this meaning knows me and loves me, that I can entrust myself to it like the child who knows that everything he may be wondering about is safe in the "you" of his mother. Thus in the last analysis believing, trusting, and loving are one, and all the theses around which belief revolves are only concrete expressions of the all embracing about-turn, of the assertion "I believe in you"—of the discovery of God in the countenance of the man Jesus of Nazareth.”
And the conclusion of the book:
“The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystalization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness as well as pompous self-will will have to be shed. One may predict that all of this will take time. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism of the eve of the French Revolution--when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain—to the renewal of the nineteenth century. But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.”
“And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already with Gobel, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”
I don’t know that there is a better book on the challenges to faith in the modern world or what the faith and it’s practice might look like in the future.
You should read the book but I’ll end with just a few (long) quotations.
Ratzinger on faith:
“Let us repeat: at its core, faith is, not a system of knowledge, but trust. Christian faith is: the finding of a "you' that upholds me and amid all the unfulfilled -and in the last resort unfulfil-lable-hope of human encounters gives me the promise of an indestructible love that not only longs for eternity but also guarantees it. Christian faith lives on the discovery that not only is there such a thing as objective meaning but that this meaning knows me and loves me, that I can entrust myself to it like the child who knows that everything he may be wondering about is safe in the "you" of his mother. Thus in the last analysis believing, trusting, and loving are one, and all the theses around which belief revolves are only concrete expressions of the all embracing about-turn, of the assertion "I believe in you"—of the discovery of God in the countenance of the man Jesus of Nazareth.”
And the conclusion of the book:
“The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystalization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness as well as pompous self-will will have to be shed. One may predict that all of this will take time. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism of the eve of the French Revolution--when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain—to the renewal of the nineteenth century. But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.”
“And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already with Gobel, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man's home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.”
December 2, 2011
An interesting book from the crisis time of the immediate post-Conciliar period. Joe Ratzinger, now Pope, surveyed the wreckage of modern theology and modern philosophy and had few answers, only the certainty that neither could go on as they have. Highlights:
The second chapter discussion of the faith of Abraham and how it compares to Christian faith. The upshot is that both are focused on the future: Abraham on the promise of God to find a homeland for his progeny, which is ultimately unsatisfying for an individual; we want a future for ourselves. Intriguingly enough, he quotes Simone de Beauvoir at length in this context.
The first and third chapters survey philosophy, including positivism, Kant's skepticism, and the attempts of later philosophers to confine their attentions narrowly enough to have certainty. I'm out of my depth there. What intrigues me is his discussion of Comte and positivism and his attribution of positivist skepticism to natural scientists. As a natural scientist, I don't find what little I know of positivism at all convincing. Of course what I observe has a very close connection to an external reality...why would I simply study figments of my own imagination? Bah. I'm displaying my ignorance again. I know much more Aristotelianism than I do modern philosophy.
The fifth chapter looks to the future, except Ratzinger is too realistic to attempt to sketch out any kind of specific future for the Church. Most of this chapter is dedicated to discussing the Napoleonic crisis c. 1800 and how the Enlightenment hacks of the time hoped the papacy would simply wink out with the death of Pius VI in captivity. Ratzinger thought that the contemporary world would, similarly, see a further erosion of the temporal possessions and political establishment of the Church...not necessarily to its detriment. He explicitly draws that parallel, but the sketch of the Church of the future sounds more like the pre-Constantine early Church to me.
The second chapter discussion of the faith of Abraham and how it compares to Christian faith. The upshot is that both are focused on the future: Abraham on the promise of God to find a homeland for his progeny, which is ultimately unsatisfying for an individual; we want a future for ourselves. Intriguingly enough, he quotes Simone de Beauvoir at length in this context.
The first and third chapters survey philosophy, including positivism, Kant's skepticism, and the attempts of later philosophers to confine their attentions narrowly enough to have certainty. I'm out of my depth there. What intrigues me is his discussion of Comte and positivism and his attribution of positivist skepticism to natural scientists. As a natural scientist, I don't find what little I know of positivism at all convincing. Of course what I observe has a very close connection to an external reality...why would I simply study figments of my own imagination? Bah. I'm displaying my ignorance again. I know much more Aristotelianism than I do modern philosophy.
The fifth chapter looks to the future, except Ratzinger is too realistic to attempt to sketch out any kind of specific future for the Church. Most of this chapter is dedicated to discussing the Napoleonic crisis c. 1800 and how the Enlightenment hacks of the time hoped the papacy would simply wink out with the death of Pius VI in captivity. Ratzinger thought that the contemporary world would, similarly, see a further erosion of the temporal possessions and political establishment of the Church...not necessarily to its detriment. He explicitly draws that parallel, but the sketch of the Church of the future sounds more like the pre-Constantine early Church to me.
September 28, 2021
The final section is very Illichian.
June 29, 2012
"Faith and the Future" brings together a series of radio addresses given by then Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
I want to share one quote from the book because I think it serves as an excellent summary of the main thesis of the book:
"...I maintain that reflection upon history, properly understood, embraces both looking back into the past and, with that as the starting point, reflecting on the possibilities and tasks of the future, which can only become clear if we survey a fairly long stretch of the road and do not naively shut ourselves up in the present. Looking back into the past does not yield a prediction of the future, but it limits our illusion of complete uniqueness and shows us that while exactly the same did not happen before, something very similar did."
In the first chapter of the book "Faith and Knowledge", Pope Benedict XVI largely addresses and raises questions to be asked of the faith. He doesn't really try to answer them in this chapter, but it's very helpful in that he asks a number of questions which I had never considered. I think it also demonstrates that great sense of care, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness of Pope Benedict XVI as a theologian and scholar.
The second chapter is titled "Faith and Existence" and it was extremely helpful in the treatment of Abraham as a model of faith for today. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I found this portion the book to be the most helpful and exciting to read.
The third chapter, "Faith and Philosophy", is largely a treatment of the major issues of philosophy that have shaped how we approach the faith. Pope Benedict XVI does offer a few critiques of those ideas that have caused problems for the Catholic culture, but this chapter is largely a survey of those issues that, I think, he feels it would be important for Catholics to be aware of.
The fourth chapter, "The Future of the World Through the Hope of Men", is basically a small treatment on hope, but also a small critique of the obstacles that Catholics raise which might hinder the spread of the gospel.
The final chapter, "What Will the Future Church Look Like?", wrestles with a few modern characters and fairly recent historical movements that attempted or succeeded to reshape the church, though not always for the better.
I have to admit that one of the real strengths of the book is that it's not at all the treatment of faith that I expected or am used to reading. It's also a quick read and has several of the wonderful quotable passages we are used to with Pope Benedict XVI.
I want to share one quote from the book because I think it serves as an excellent summary of the main thesis of the book:
"...I maintain that reflection upon history, properly understood, embraces both looking back into the past and, with that as the starting point, reflecting on the possibilities and tasks of the future, which can only become clear if we survey a fairly long stretch of the road and do not naively shut ourselves up in the present. Looking back into the past does not yield a prediction of the future, but it limits our illusion of complete uniqueness and shows us that while exactly the same did not happen before, something very similar did."
In the first chapter of the book "Faith and Knowledge", Pope Benedict XVI largely addresses and raises questions to be asked of the faith. He doesn't really try to answer them in this chapter, but it's very helpful in that he asks a number of questions which I had never considered. I think it also demonstrates that great sense of care, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness of Pope Benedict XVI as a theologian and scholar.
The second chapter is titled "Faith and Existence" and it was extremely helpful in the treatment of Abraham as a model of faith for today. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I found this portion the book to be the most helpful and exciting to read.
The third chapter, "Faith and Philosophy", is largely a treatment of the major issues of philosophy that have shaped how we approach the faith. Pope Benedict XVI does offer a few critiques of those ideas that have caused problems for the Catholic culture, but this chapter is largely a survey of those issues that, I think, he feels it would be important for Catholics to be aware of.
The fourth chapter, "The Future of the World Through the Hope of Men", is basically a small treatment on hope, but also a small critique of the obstacles that Catholics raise which might hinder the spread of the gospel.
The final chapter, "What Will the Future Church Look Like?", wrestles with a few modern characters and fairly recent historical movements that attempted or succeeded to reshape the church, though not always for the better.
I have to admit that one of the real strengths of the book is that it's not at all the treatment of faith that I expected or am used to reading. It's also a quick read and has several of the wonderful quotable passages we are used to with Pope Benedict XVI.
April 1, 2023
En "Fe y Futuro" el entonces cardenal Ratzinger y posteriormente Papa Benedicto XVI defiende el lugar de la fe en el mundo moderno, un mundo dominado por la ciencia y la tecnología en el que no parece haber lugar para la religión.
Para ello Ratzinger hace una crítica del positivismo y de la deriva de las corrientes filosóficas actuales, poniendo de relieve las limitaciones de los enfoques basados puramente en la observación de los fenómenos naturales. Ratzinger alega que el progreso y la ciencia no están reñidos con la fe, teniendo cada una su propia esfera de influencia y actuando de manera complementaria.
Aunque este libro es intelectualmente exigente, su lectura es muy interesante y poco convencional, planteándonos preguntas de difícil respuesta pero que moldean la existencia humana. Sin embargo, "Fe y Futuro" presenta un problema, y es que en lugar de ser un ensayo en el que los distintos capítulos guardan relación entre sí, se trata de un compendio de conferencias que dio el propio Ratzinger en los años 70. Aunque el editor se esfuerza en conectar el contenido de estos ensayos en una línea argumental que estructure este libro, no lo consigue del todo, lo que resulta un inconveniente.
Para ello Ratzinger hace una crítica del positivismo y de la deriva de las corrientes filosóficas actuales, poniendo de relieve las limitaciones de los enfoques basados puramente en la observación de los fenómenos naturales. Ratzinger alega que el progreso y la ciencia no están reñidos con la fe, teniendo cada una su propia esfera de influencia y actuando de manera complementaria.
Aunque este libro es intelectualmente exigente, su lectura es muy interesante y poco convencional, planteándonos preguntas de difícil respuesta pero que moldean la existencia humana. Sin embargo, "Fe y Futuro" presenta un problema, y es que en lugar de ser un ensayo en el que los distintos capítulos guardan relación entre sí, se trata de un compendio de conferencias que dio el propio Ratzinger en los años 70. Aunque el editor se esfuerza en conectar el contenido de estos ensayos en una línea argumental que estructure este libro, no lo consigue del todo, lo que resulta un inconveniente.
January 12, 2023
Thought-provoking. Technology, liberalism, and wanting to be like God. What will the Catholic faith look like as secular society takes hold of more people?
September 9, 2025
I just bought this from Audible for $4.86 -- what a bargain
I can't wait to read it.
Now that I've read it, first of all, I always look forward to reading anything by Pope Benedict XVI. He is my favorite pope since Pope Pius XII. He is thoughtful, personally faithful, and always brilliant. I will treasure this short book, and I highly recommend it.
I can't wait to read it.
Now that I've read it, first of all, I always look forward to reading anything by Pope Benedict XVI. He is my favorite pope since Pope Pius XII. He is thoughtful, personally faithful, and always brilliant. I will treasure this short book, and I highly recommend it.
January 12, 2016
Great little essays, although not for ye of little faith.
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September 7, 2017Pa
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews