Biblical Aspects of the Theme of Faith and Politics | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger | From "Church, Ecumenism, & Politics: New
Endeavors in Ecclesiology" | Ignatius Insight
Biblical Aspects of the Theme of Faith and Politics | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger | From Church, Ecumenism, & Politics: New
Endeavors in Ecclesiology
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2008/ratzinger_faithpolcep_oct08.asp
The reading and the Gospel that we have just heard stemmed from a situation in
which Christians were not a self-organizing subject of the state but were
rather outcasts being persecuted by a cruel dictatorship. They themselves were
not allowed to share the responsibility for their state; they could only endure
it. Theirs was not the privilege of shaping it as a Christian state but was
rather the task of living as Christians in spite of it. The names of the
emperors who reigned during the period to which tradition dates both texts are
enough to make the situation clear: Nero and Domitian. And so the First Letter
of Peter, too, calls the Christians in such a state strangers or
"exiles" (1:1) and the state itself "Babylon" (5:13). In
doing so, it very emphatically indicates the political position of the Christians
of that time, which corresponded roughly to the position of the exiled Jews
living in Babylon, who were not the subject but rather the objects of that
state and therefore had to learn how they could survive in it, since they were
not allowed to learn how to build it. Thus the political background of today's
readings is fundamentally different from ours. Nevertheless, they contain three
important statements that have significance also for political action among
Christians.
1. The state is not the whole of human existence and does not encompass all
human hope. Man and what he hopes for extend beyond the framework of the state
and beyond the sphere of political action. This is true not only for a state
like Babylon, but for every state. The state is not the totality; this unburdens
the politician and at the same time opens up for him the path of reasonable
politics. The Roman state was wrong and anti-Christian precisely because it
wanted to be the totality of human possibilities and hopes. A state that makes
such claims cannot fulfill its promises; it thereby falsifies and diminishes
man. Through the totalitarian lie it becomes demonic and tyrannical. The
abolition of the totalitarian state has demythologized the state and thereby
liberated man, as well as politicians and politics.
But when the Christian faith falls into ruins and faith in mankind's greater
hope is lost, the myth of the divine state rises again, because man cannot do
without the totality of hope. Although such promises pose as progress and
commandeer for themselves the slogans of progress and progressive thinking,
viewed historically they are nevertheless a regression to an era antedating the
novum of Christianity, a turning
back along the scale of history. And even though their propaganda says that
their goal is man's complete liberation, the abolition of all ruling authority,
they contradict the truth of man and are opposed to his freedom, because they force
man to fit into what he himself can make. Such politics, which declares that
the kingdom of God is the outcome of politics and twists faith into the
universal primacy of the political, is by its very nature the politics of
enslavement; it is mythological politics.
To this, faith opposes Christian reason's sense of proportion, which recognizes
what man really can accomplish in terms of a free social order and is content
with that, because it knows that mankind's greater expectations are safe in
God's hands. To renounce the hope of faith is at the same time to renounce
political reason and its sense of proportion. Abandoning the mythical hopes of
an authority-free society is not resignation but honesty, which sustains man in
hope. The mythical hope of a self-made paradise can only drive man into
inescapable anxiety-into fear of the failure of the illusory promises and of
the immense emptiness that lurks behind them; into fear of his own power and of
its cruelty.
Thus the first service to politics rendered by the Christian faith is that it liberates
man from the irrationality of political myths, which are the real threat of our
time. Taking a stand for sobriety, which does what is possible and does not cry
with an ardent heart after the impossible, is of course always difficult; the
voice of reason is not as loud as the cry of unreason.
The cry for the grandiose project has the cachet of morality; restricting oneself
to what is possible, in contrast, seems to be the renunciation of moral
passion, mere faint-hearted pragmatism. But, as a matter of fact, political
morality consists precisely of resisting the seductive force of the big words
for which humanity and its chances are being gambled away. The moral thing is
not adventurous moralism, which tries to mind God's business, but rather
honesty, which accepts man's limits and does man's work within them. Not the
uncompromising stance, but compromise is the true morality in political
matters.
2. Although the Christians were being persecuted, they did not have a negative
view of the state in principle, but rather they still recognized in it the
state qua state and did what was in their power to build it up as a state; they
did not try to destroy it. Precisely because they knew that they were in
"Babylon", they applied to themselves the guidelines that Jeremiah
had written to the children of Israel who had been exiled to that place. The
letter of the prophet that is recorded in chapter 29 of the Book of Jeremiah
was by no means an activist's manual calling for political resistance and the
destruction of the slave state, as understandable as that would have been; it
is rather an instruction on how to preserve and strengthen what is good. Thus,
it is a lesson in surviving and at the same time in preparing for better days
and new prospects. In that sense, this morality of exile also contains basic
elements of a positive political ethos. Jeremiah urges the Jews not to persist
in contradiction and denial but rather to "build houses and live in them,
plant gardens and eat their produce .... Seek the welfare of the city where I
have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its
welfare you will find your welfare" (Jer 29:5-7). We can read a very
similar admonition in Paul's First Letter to Timothy, which tradition dates to
the time of Nero, where it says to pray "for all men, for kings and all
who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly
and respectful in every way" (1 Tim 2:1-2). Along the same lines, the
First Letter of Peter itself admonishes the readers to "maintain good
conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as
wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation"
(2:12). "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the
emperor" (2:17). "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a
thief, or a wrongdoer, or a mischief-maker; yet if one suffers as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God" (4:15f.).
What does this mean? The Christians were by no means fearful, gullible people
who were taken in by the authorities and did not know that there can be a right
to resistance and even a conscientious duty to resist. The very last sentence
shows that they recognized the limits of the state and did not bow to it in
matters where they were not allowed to bow to it because it opposed God's will.
Even more importantly, the fact remains that they still did not attempt to
destroy that state; rather, they tried to build it up. Amorality is fought by
morality, and evil by a determined adherence to the good, and in no other way.
Morality--doing good--is the true resistance, and only the good can be a
preparation for a turn for the better. There are not two kinds of political
morality: a morality of resistance and a morality of ruling. There is only one
morality: morality as such, the morality of God's commandments, which cannot be
temporarily suspended in order to bring about a change in the status quo more quickly.
One can build up only by building up, not by destroying--that is the political
ethics of the Bible from Jeremiah to Peter and Paul. The Christian always
supports the state, in this
sense: he does the positive, the good things that hold states together. He has
no fear that he will thereby favor the power of the wicked, but he is convinced
that evil can be dismantled and the power of evil and of evil men can be
diminished only by strengthening what is good. Anyone who accepts the killing
of the innocent and the destruction of other people's property as part of the bargain
cannot appeal to the faith. The words of Saint Peter are quite explicitly
against such methods: "Let none of you suffer [condemnation] as a
murderer, or a thief" (4:1 )--and at that time he was speaking also against
this sort of resistance. The true, Christian resistance that he is demanding
occurs only in the situation where the state demands the repudiation of God and
of his commandments, where it demands evil, against which good is still
commanded.
3. A final point follows logically from this. The Christian faith destroyed the
myth of the divine state, the myth of the earthly paradise or utopian state and
of a society without rule. In its place it put the objectiv- ity of reason. But
that does not mean that it brought an objectivity devoid of values, the
objectivity of statistics and mere social dynamics. True human objectivity
involves humanity, and humanity involves God. True human reason involves
morality, which lives on God's commandments. This morality is not a private
matter; it has public significance. Without the good of being good and of good
action, there can be no good politics. What the persecuted Church prescribed
for Christians as the core of their political ethos must also be the core of an
active Christian politics: only where good is done and is recognized as good
can people live together well in a thriving community. Demonstrating the
practical importance of the moral dimension, the dimension of God's
commandments--publicly as well--must be the center of responsible political
action.
If we act in this way, then even in the midst of confusion and adversity we can
understand the words from today's Scriptures as a reliable promise addressed to
us personally: "Let not your hearts be troubled" (Jn 14:1). "By
God's power [you] are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be
revealed" (1 Pet 1:5). Amen.
ENDNOTE:
This homily was given on November 26, 1981, during a liturgy for Catholic
representatives to the Bundestag [the Lower House of the German Federal Republic]
in the Church of Saint Winfried [Saint Boniface] in Bonn. The readings, 1 Peter
1:3-7 and John 14:1-6, were prescribed by the Church's liturgy for that day. At
first they seemed unsuited to the subject, but, on second thought, after closer
inspection, they proved to be unexpectedly rich material for this meditation.
Church, Ecumenism and Politics: New Endeavors in Ecclesiology
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
This work features the most discussed topics of the life of the Church, treated with unique frankness
and depth by the Church's spiritual and theological leader. In this collection of essays, theologian Joseph Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI,
tackles three major issues in the Church today--the nature of the Church, the pursuit of Christian unity, and the relationship of
Christianity to the secular/political power.
The first part of the book explores Vatican II's teaching on the Church, what it means to call the Church "the People of God",
the role of the Pope, and the Synod of Bishops. In part two, Ratzinger frankly assesses the ecumenical movement--its achievements,
problems, and principles for authentic progress toward Christian unity. In the third part of the work, Ratzinger discusses both fundamental
questions and particular issues concerning the Church, the state and human fulfillment in the Age to come. What does the Bible say
about faith and politics? How should the Church work in pluralistics societies? What are the problems with Liberation Theology?
How should we understand freedom in the Church and in society?
Beneath a penetrating analysis on these important topics by this brilliant teacher and writer, both concise and also surprising, is revealed the passion of a great spiritual
leader. The result is an exciting and stimulating work, which can be provoking, but never boring.
"In tricky theological disputes, Pope Benedict XVI separates the wheat from the chaff--a gift for precision that defines this compendium of his thought on ecclesiology and ecumenism.
Dating from the 1970s and 1980s, the essays, interviews and lectures contained in this book remain highly relevant. Careful distinctions are his winnowing fork as he cuts through the
confusion to identify what is orthodox and heterodox in the important controversies of our time." -- George Neumayr, Editor Catholic World Report
"In this wonderful collection of essays, Pope Benedict XVI offers to us a sophisticated, though accessible, understanding of the relationship between politics, the church, and the differing religious
communities that encounter one another across the globe. The vision that the Pope imparts is one that supports religious liberty without entailing theological relativism. He shows us that one
can take theology and ecclesiology seriously, as authoritative knowledge traditions, without rejecting the best insights of Enlightenment liberalism." -- Francis J. Beckwith, Associate Professor of
Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University. Author of Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was for over two decades
the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope
John Paul II. He is a renowned theologian and author of numerous books.
A mini-bio and full listing of his books published by Ignatius Press are
available on his IgnatiusInsight.com
Author Page.
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