Overview

How ought the church respond to the rise of a post-Christian secular age? Should it retreat? What is the mission of the church in this context? Joseph Ratzinger's eucharistic ecclesiology provides a model for living the relation between communion and mission, a model that provides a sound image for conceiving of and imagining the church's engagement with modernity and the embodiment of missionary communion. Ratzinger's vision, deeply influenced by St. Benedict's and St. Augustine's responses to the problems of their day, offers a theologically and liturgically grounded vision of missionary communion that transcends politics. In light of our creation by, from, and for the triune God, authentic responses to the present dis-integration of reason and community require the witness and invitation of the church as a community for the world. Ratzinger argues that right worship can and does habituate Christians and equip churches to respond to the existential questions confronting modern persons, many of whom seem partially paralyzed by the anxieties of life without truth and communion. Might the witness of communion for mission lived by the new ecclesial movements, especially the Focolare, offer an example of how Ratzinger's creative minorities can successfully evangelize this secular age?

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9781532673146

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Nuanced, erudite, utilizing the inviting rigor of a Thomistic interpretive framework of objections, difficulties, and thoughtful Ratzingerian responses, this work provides the creative model for living out the relationship between communion and mission. The Benedict Proposal is timely because it is timeless. Highly recommended. --Caitlin Smith Gilson, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Holy Cross Worship or mission? A concern for Christian community or for outreach to the world? Joshua Brumfield draws on the work of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI to argue that these are false choices. The Benedict Proposal points the way toward a more vibrant church and more effective evangelization. --Michael Root, Professor of Systematic Theology, Catholic University of America Over half a century after the close of the Second Vatican Council, controversy remains over how the church is to engage with the world. By broadly and deeply engaging the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, Brumfield persuasively shows that the response called for today is the formation of 'creative minorities' who withdraw from the world in order to be more perfectly devoted to God, for the sake of the world. An important contribution to the theology of new ecclesial movements. --Patrick Fletcher, author of Ratzinger's Resurrection Realism

Nuanced, erudite, utilizing the inviting rigor of a Thomistic interpretive framework of objections, difficulties, and thoughtful Ratzingerian responses, this work provides the creative model for living out the relationship between communion and mission. The Benedict Proposal is timely because it is timeless. Highly recommended. --Caitlin Smith Gilson, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Holy Cross Worship or mission? A concern for Christian community or for outreach to the world? Joshua Brumfield draws on the work of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI to argue that these are false choices. The Benedict Proposal points the way toward a more vibrant church and more effective evangelization. --Michael Root, Professor of Systematic Theology, Catholic University of America Over half a century after the close of the Second Vatican Council, controversy remains over how the church is to engage with the world. By broadly and deeply engaging the theology of Joseph Ratzinger, Brumfield persuasively shows that the response called for today is the formation of 'creative minorities' who withdraw from the world in order to be more perfectly devoted to God, for the sake of the world. An important contribution to the theology of new ecclesial movements. --Patrick Fletcher, author of Ratzinger's Resurrection Realism

Author Information

Joshua Brumfield is IKON(R) Program Director and lecturer in IKON(R) courses for The Newman Idea. He lives with his wife and four children in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned his BS from Tulane University, his MA from Our Lady of Holy Cross College, and his PhD from The Catholic University of America. He has served as Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Holy Cross and has published articles on Pope Benedict XVI, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Jacques Maritain.

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