In the Beginning…': A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall (Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought (RRRCT))

A clear exposition of the strength of the stories of the Creation and the Fall, of their value for the contemporary world. Very insightful. Very helpful. Written by a man who understands the modern world. Written and translated in an understandable way. Not highly technical in roughly 80% of its text. These were originally four homilies, which may contribute to their conversational and lyrical tone. They are quite a contrast to the stern Germanic stereotype which dominates the popular caricature of the author.It is important to understand that, in order to explain opposing viewpoints, sometimes he speaks in the voice of a wrong-headed opinion for quite some time. A couple times I found myself thinking, why is he saying this, and then realizing, oh, he's giving voice to a different viewpoint.Some quotes from the first homily:“These words with which the Holy Scripture begins always have the effect on me of the solemn tolling of a great old bell, which stirs the heart from afar with its beauty and dignity and gives it an inkling of the mystery of eternity.”“Its purpose ultimately would be to say one thing, God created the world. The world is not a chaos of opposed forces; nor is it the dwelling of demonic powers from which human beings must protect themselves. The sun and the moon are not deities that rule over them, and the sky that stretches over their heads is not full of mysterious and adversary divinities. Rather all of this comes from one power, from God's eternal Reason, which became in the Word the power of creation. Thus insofar as human beings realized that the world came from the Word, they ceased to care about the gods and demons. In addition the world was freed so that reason might lift itself up to God and so that human beings might approach this God fearlessly. In this Word they experienced the true enlightenment that reveals to them that there is only one power everywhere and that we are in his hands. This is the living God, and this same power which created the earth and the stars and which bears the whole universe is the very one whom we meet in the Word of Holy Scripture. In this Word we come into contact with the real primordial force of the world and with the power that is above all powers.”“Even today faith in creation is not unreal; even today it is reasonable; even from the perspective of the data of natural sciences it is the “better hypothesis,” offering a fuller and better explanation than any of the other theories. Faith is reasonable. The reasonableness of creation derives from God's Reason, and there is no other really convincing explanation. The reasonableness of the universe provides us with access to God's Reason… Therefore we must not in our own day conceal our faith in creation. We may not conceal it, for only if it is true that the universe comes from freedom, love, and reason, and that these are the real underlying powers, can we trust one another, go forward into the future, and live as human beings. God is the Lord of all things because he is their creator, and only therefore can we pray to him. For this means that freedom and love are not ineffectual ideas but rather that they are sustaining forces of reality.”

This is a collection of homilies on creation that Fr. Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) shared with his Munich parish in the 1980s. They have been edited enough to make them work well in a book form and provided along with an Appendix to help us understand the importance and consequences of faith in creation. As historical records they give us an insight into what makes a good homily. We need more of these kinds of homilies that explain why our faith is relevant to us today and what impact it can have on the world if we lose that faith. Fr. Ratzinger does not shrink from the challenge posed by the theory of evolution but he casts the challenge in a new mold stressing the importance of why God created more than how God created. He also demonstrates the inevitable conclusions if we accept any theory that assumes the universe is the product of chance rather than design.Multiple references to Marxist philosophy may seem to date these homilies in our time where that philosophy seems to be in decline. However, much of same criticisms could be leveled at the materialism that remains potent in our time. The disconnect of grace from creation, as assumed in the reformation, was a fascinating and interesting twist to the consequences of reformation ideas and worth deeper exploration in itself. All of these anti-theistic philosophies have their own consequences that de-humanize us in the name of freedom leading, in the end, to slavery. Losing site of our origin causes us to lose site of our destination and even to lose site of what it means to be a human being.The consequences of faith in creation are as relevant today as when they were first presented in Munich 30 years ago. You will not find the fundamentalist literalism here that you might have come to expect if you are a creationism student. And it may be that the one criticism I might have is that Fr. Ratzinger may have graciously given evolutionists more credit than they deserve and perhaps could challenge some of their presuppositions. But, with all fairness, it was not his intent to challenge evolution but rather to strengthen creation thought by calling to our attention the consequences of philosophy and faith concerning creation. The result is an inspiring work and a model for good homilies.

Excellent book by His Holiness. I would recommend this book to the reader looking for some insight to The Story of Creation

The usual theological deep dive you'd expect from Pope Benedict. Takes a familiar concept and examins it in a way that most hermeneutics miss. The book is not long, but packed with good analysis

Great instruction about the creation story in the book of Genesis. Pope Benedict xvi was a fantastic scholar, theologian and a holy servant of God.As christians and catholics we could all know more about the creation story, disobedience, sin and redemption.

As usual, Pope Benedict XVI can write a magnificent theological discussion. Here he shows that the doctrine of creation, redemption and the Love of God are deeply intertwined.

Excellent book by one of the finest theologians of our time.An adult understanding of the creation stories.

teachings of Pope Benedict XVI

A good book by a great theologian who became Pope. Mystery is not fully revealed but that remains God’s prerogative.