Pope Benedict on the Innermost Simplicity of Christianity

“Here we have reached a point at which the innermost unity and simplicity of Christianity show themselves for what they are.  I may declare that the heart of Christianity is the Paschal mystery of death and resurrection.  Or I may say that this midpoint really consists in justification by faith.  Or, again, I may affirm that the center of it all is the triune God, and therefore, love as the alpha and omega of the world.  These three statements are, in fact, identical.  In all three the self-same truth is indicated: sharing in the martyria of Jesus by that dying which is faith and love.  Such faith and love are simultaneously God’s acceptance of my life and my will to embrace the divine acceptance.  And all this is from the God who can be love only as the triune God and who, in thus being love, makes the world bearable after all.”

  •  Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1988), 100.

Cultural Encounters: Apocalypse Now and Not Yet – Leaving No One Behind

I have an essay entitled, “Reclaiming an Eschatological Imagination: A Dogmatic Sketch” appearing in the most recent issue of Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture on the theme “Apocalypse Now and Not Yet.”  Friends and former students will know that I have been teaching and lecturing on these themes going all the way back to my comprehensive examination on Apocalyptic Eschatology written years ago under the supervision of Joseph Mangina.  You can access a preview of the issue, which includes the first few pages of my essay here.  The issue also includes an essay by Rodney Clapp entitled, “Apocalyptic Hope in a World Consumed by Apocalypse” and an essay by John Morehead called “The Truth is Out There” on extraterrestrial salvation.