Pope Benedict’s Book is now available

12 Comments

1. capchoirgirl says:

   11 March 2011 at 12:35 PM

   Rec. mine this very minute from the UPS man. :) Very excited to start it!
2. NCtrad says:

   11 March 2011 at 1:07 PM

   I found the following review rather curious:

   But Craig Evans, a Protestant bible expert, said Protestants of many stripes would be surprised at how Protestant the book reads, and that he wouldn’t hesitate to put it on his syllabus for his conservative, Baptist seminary students.

   “If it didn’t say Pope Benedict on the cover, they might not even be sure they were reading a Catholic book,” he said.

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110310/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_pope_s_book
3. Andrew says:

   11 March 2011 at 1:28 PM

   Has anyone in Canada had any luck finding a place to order the book from and get it in a reasonable time? As an American in Canada I just sort of assumed it would be available on amazon.ca at the same time as amazon.com. They say, however, the book will arrive between April 6-11. For 38 bucks Amazon.com will get it to me next week, but for that I may as well buy both the kindle version and wait for the hardback, which I may do but I’d rather just be able to get the book earlier for a reasonable price.
4. Banjo pickin girl says:

   11 March 2011 at 1:33 PM

   NCtrad, The book is about the events of Holy Week so a Protestant would find less in it that was distinctively, or objectionably, Catholic and not also Protestant. If the book were about Marian doctrine that reviewer would not say the same. Protestant Bible scholars love our Pope’s scholarship by and large.
5. Henry Edwards says:

   11 March 2011 at 2:45 PM

   NCtrad: “If it didn’t say Pope Benedict on the cover, they might not even be sure they were reading a Catholic book,” he said.

   Of course, those of us in the Bible belt can understand this reaction by a Protestant. Just the other day, my wife was asked by a nice lady in a store whether Catholics believe in Christ. Well-intentioned as this lady seemed, she might would not have guessed by herself that Pope Benedict does also. And, if she heard about this book, might be curious as to why he would have written a book a book about Jesus.
6. DominiSumus says:

   11 March 2011 at 4:07 PM

   Mine is out for delivery right now. I can’t wait to read it.
7. bootstrap says:

   11 March 2011 at 4:11 PM

   Downloaded it to my iPad in eBook format. I’ll try and pace myself. ;-)
8. MichaelJ says:

   11 March 2011 at 5:03 PM

   But Henry, it wasn’t just “a Protestant”. If Craig Evans were simply an average baptist you might meet in the grocery store, I wouldn’t be surprised (saddened perhaps, but not surprised) either.
   He’s not though. If he teaches baptist seminary students don’t you think his understanding of protestant theology and how it differes from Catholicism is a bit greater that the average baptist?
9. Joan M says:

   11 March 2011 at 6:50 PM

   Hah! I pre-ordered mine on January 8th from Amazon.com. Yesterday I received a revision to the expected arrival date – from April 28th to April 25th. I just know that I will not receive it before mid May – after all, other items I had ordered the same day were shipped on January 11th and were scheduled to arrive (in Trinidad) by February 21st. I have hadn’t had the bulky correspondence card from the post office yet…..
10. Ezra says:

    11 March 2011 at 8:24 PM

    In his new book—the 2nd volume of his work Jesus of Nazareth—Pope Benedict XVI writes that Catholics should not seek the incorporation of the Jewish people into the Church.

    Could someone with access to the text of the book speak to the truth of this?
11. NCtrad says:

    11 March 2011 at 9:46 PM

    banjo pickin girl-
    The events of Holy Week include the Last Supper where the first Holy Mass was said and the sacerdotal priesthood was conferred upon the Apostles. Any Catholic handling of this subject would be repugnant to a protestant. So did the Holy Father skip the Last Supper or water the meaning down to be acceptable to out “separated brethren?” I honestly don’t know since I haven’t, nor do I intend to, read the book.

    That aside, Ezra rightly points out the problematic statements regarding jewish conversion. [You say “rightly”, but you say you haven’t read the book. So, you don’t have the slightest idea, do you?]
12. Emilio III says:

    11 March 2011 at 11:42 PM

    Ezra:

    Here I should like to recall the advice given by Bernard of Clairvaux to his pupil Pope Eugene III on this matter. He reminds the Pope that his duty of care extends not only to Christians, but “‘You also have obligations towards unbelievers, whether Jew, Greek, or Gentile’ (De Consideratione III/1,2). Then he immediately corrects himself and observes more accurately: ‘Granted, with regards to the Jews, time excuses you; for them a determined point in time has been fixed, which cannot be anticipated. The full number of the Gentiles must come in first. But what do you say about these Gentiles?… Why did it seem good to the Fathers… to suspend the word of faith while belief was obdurate? Why do we suppose the word that runs swiftly stopped short?’ (De Consideratione III/1,3).

    Hildegard Brem comments on this passage as follows: ‘In the light of Romans 11:25, the Church must not concern herself with the conversion of the Jews, since she must wait for the time fixed for this by God, “until the full number of the Gentiles comes in” (Rom 11:25). On the contrary, the Jews themselves are a living homily to which the Church must draw attention, since they call to mind the Lord’s suffering (cf. Ep 363)…’ (quoted in Sämtliche Werke, ed. Winkler, I, p. 834).

    The prophecy of the time of the Gentiles and the corresponding mission is a core element of Jesus’ eschatological message. The special mission to evangelize the Gentiles, which Paul received from the risen Lord, is firmly anchored in the message given by Jesus to his disciples before his Passion. The time of the Gentiles — ‘the time of the Church’ — which as we have seen is proclaimed in all the Gospels, constitutes an essential element of Jesus’ eschatological message.”

    (pp44,45) I haven’t got much further myself, and I don’t think I should make any comment until I’ve read it through at least once.

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