Kolokotronis:
Great series of posts by you. Good to see our esteemed brothers from the Eastern Church here with us defending the Bishop of Rome and as you say, there will be those on both the right and the left, that will try to interpret this thru political lens. The Introduction of the Encylical, as with everything the Pope does, is interpreted thru the person of Christ
For example, Pope Benedict in his book “In the Beginning: A Catholic understanding of the Story of Creation and Fall” writes (pp.9-10):
” For the Christian the Old Testament represents, in its totality, and advance towards CHrist; only when it attains to him does its real meaning, which was gradually hinted at, become clear. Thus every individual part derives its meaning from the whole, and the whole derives its meanings from its end-—from Christ. Hence we only interpret an individual text theologically correctly [as the Fathers of the Church recognized and as the faith of the Church in every age has recognized] when we see it as a way that is leading us every forward, when we see in the text where this way is tending and what its inner direction is.”
Everything the Pope writes is interpreted thru this hermaneutic principle, i.e Typology, which is the orthodox Apostolic Tradition handed down from the Fathers.
As for pushing Marxism, the book I cited from “heavily criticizes Marxist ideology, as does every book I have ever read by the Pope including such works as “Spirit of the Liturgy and “Principles of Catholic Theology”,
Also Kolokotronis with respect to the Church Fathers:
Pope Benedict and the and his book entitled “Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones For a Fundamental Theology”, the Pope in Chapter 2, entitled Scripture and Tradition, lays out the case for Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, as expressed in the Creeds of the Church, the Liturgy and writings of the Church Fathers, and how they are all important in building a foundation for orthodox doctrine. Now, with respect to the Church Fathers, Pope Benedict (pp. 148-151) makes some interesting points. First, The Canon of Holy Scripture can be traced back to them, or at least to the undivided Church of the first centuries, of which they were the representatives. It is through their [The Church Fathers] efforts that precisely those “books” that today we call “New Testament” were chosen from a multitude of other available literary texts and that the “Greek version of the OT” was joined to them, that it was interpreted in terms of them, and together became known as “Holy Scripture” The Pope continues and notes that a book was recognized as “canonical” if it was read in the Liturgy of the Church [public worship]. By Church, the Pope notes that it means that the numerous Eastern Churches had their own lists and customs, but in the end, all came to accept the same set of books. The Pope notes of the Gnostic texts, which aspired to become scripture but states that it was the anti-Gnostic Church Fathers whose writings against the Gnostics drew the line in the Church. In summary, the canon, as canon, would be inconceivable without the intellectual movement to which patristic theology bears witness.
Second, in addition to the Bible, the Church Fathers were instrumental in formulating the important symbola of all Christendom [ie. the Creeds and Confessions of Faith] and Finally, in the ancient undivided Church, the reading of Sacred Scripture and the confession of faith [Creeds] were primarily Liturgical acts of the whole assembly gathered around the Risen Lord. Thus, the Pope notes, it was the ancient Church, and thus the Fathers, that created the fundamental forms of Christian Liturgy
The Pope concludes by stating that given these 3 points, theology will always be indebted to the Church Fathers and will have cause to return again and again to them. The Bible, as the Pope notes, comes to us by way of history. If we ignore history, we become entangled and thus remain bound to our own thinking and reflect only ourselves. Therefore, the Pope concludes that the Church Fathers are still essential and must not be seen as a matter of cataloguing in a museum dedicated to what has been. No, “The Fathers are the common past of all Christians!.” And in the rediscovery of the common possession lies the hope for the future of the Church, the task for her—and our-present.
In summary Kolokotronis, you understand Pope Benedict better than many Catholics I deal with.
Pax et bonum
“In summary Kolokotronis, you understand Pope Benedict better than many Catholics I deal with.”
Thank you for the kind words. When Pope Benedict was elected, an Orthodox hierarch commented to me that his teachings would be received with enthusiasm among the Orthodox because “he speaks our language.” He was not at all sure how Latins would react.