The Crisis and the Power of Faith. Reflecting upon the Thought of Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI

Abstract

Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI is aware of both the power and the crisis of faith. The Pope traces the roots of the contemporary crisis of faith in the complex network of external negative factors, represented by such phenomena as relativism, postmodernism or liberalism. However, His Holiness also reaches into the depth of a human being to diagnose an intrapersonal crisis. Overwhelmed by these negative trends, modern humans are incapable of the definitive comprehension of the essence of their faith. This is why Benedict XVI points towards the faith of the Church and its true power as a way out of the crisis. The history of the Church is not a history of scandals, but is a source of hope. This is the hope of the faith in Jesus Christ, expressed by the Church in its invariable, original message. The faith in Jesus Christ is the faith in a real concrete Person, the incarnated Logos. This is why Christian faith is personalistic, trinitary and communal in its nature, but its central attribute is its being reason-oriented, Logos-oriented.

The characteristic feature of Christian faith as propounded by Joseph Ratzinger is its rationality. To believe is to place trust in Logos, the Sense that supports the whole universe and the human being. The Logos is not an Ancient Greek reason, but the Divine Logos who was incarnated in Jesus Christ. Under His power, Christianity becomes „the religion of the Logos”, the religion of creative power that has created the world, supports it and directs it towards the Pleroma. Is it, therefore, true to contend that the contemporary lack of faith is simply a loss of rationality? Let us hope that this reflection can wake homo sapiens up, if the species is still rational enough to realize the truth.