Mutuality of Scripture, Metaphysics and Dogmatics. A Basic Hermeneutical Insight in Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth

Abstract

The subject of this article is the Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI 's trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth. Central to the analysis is an attempt to reconstruct the place and role of metaphysics in the Pope’s analysis and, more broadly, in his understanding of biblical hermeneutics. One of the central ambitions of our author was to develop an integral method of reading and understanding Scripture, in which historical-critical, metaphysical and dogmatic themes presuppose and complement each other. The article first examines the modalities of the appearance of metaphysical threads in Benedict XVI’s meditations, then analyzes his understanding of prayer in a metaphysical key, and finally sketches the concept of a new human being made possible by the work of Jesus and needing metaphysical categories to be fully described. Thus, it turns out that Ratzinger was able to show a truly biblical metaphysics in Jesus of Nazareth and prove that metaphysical thinking is not at odds with the assumptions of the historical-critical method, if the latter, of course, is not understood in a reductionist manner and in accordance with modern prejudices. In this way, I argue, Ratzinger sketches in his trilogy an integral theological method for reading the biblical text and ultimately synthesizes the biblical, metaphysical and dogmatic approaches.