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Ratzinger's Logos Theology and the Healing of Human Rights

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Ratzinger's Logos Theology and the Healing of Human Rights RATZINGER’S LOGOS THEOLOGY AND THE HEALING OF HUMAN RIGHTS: A Critical Engagement with the Regensburg Lecture by FRANCIS MOHAN A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham March 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Taking the use of the logos in Ratzinger’s Regensburg Lecture as its starting point, the thesis expands three horizons in Ratzinger studies. Firstly, it extends the understanding of Ratzinger as the author of a logos theology. Secondly, it shows how the Regensburg theme of the full breadth of reason, represented by the logos, is applied by Ratzinger in a critique of secular modernity. Thirdly, it claims that the logos theology of Joseph Ratzinger can provide a repair of the culture of human rights. The thesis argues that if human rights are set exclusively within the framework of secular modernity, they fall sick and fail to meet the criterion of inclusivity and universality. Set within the framework of a Ratzingerian logos theology, their power is strengthened and their promise of inclusivity and universality restored. The thesis calls for a mutually reparative dialogue about human rights, based on the full breadth of reason, between the three constituencies of Christianity, the religions and secular modernity. The thesis concludes that the Regensburg Lecture, far from damaging the dialogue with Islam, and with secular modernity, opens up a new intercultural bridge based on a mutually enriching engagement with a logos-based culture of human rights. DEDICATION I dedicate my doctoral thesis to my wife, Bernadette. Without her encouragement and interest, I could never have contemplated embarking on a Ph.D. Without her unwavering support and enthusiasm, I could never have completed it. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and thank the following persons, whose assistance has been invaluable for the development and completion of this thesis. My supervisor, Dr. David Cheetham, has guided my postgraduate studies with patience, sensitivity and wisdom. I came to the University of Birmingham with the intention of studying for one year only. It was only because of his interest and encouragement that I had the confidence to commence my doctoral studies. I would like to thank him most sincerely for all the theological discussions we have enjoyed together over four supremely rewarding years. I would like to thank Dr. Jon Balserak of the Theology Department at the University of Bristol, for his personal warmth and his support of my work, and for giving me the opportunity to trial aspects of Chapter Five, on Justin Martyr, at the 19th Annual University of Bristol Postgraduate Theology Conference, in a paper entitled ‘Justin Martyr and the Spiritual Exercise of Dialogue’, which I delivered in March 2013. I am equally grateful to Prof. Gavin D’Costa, of the Theology Department at the University of Bristol, for his personal welcome and his interest in my project, and for giving me the opportunity to trial aspects of Chapter Seven, on Natural Law, at the 20th Annual University of Bristol Postgraduate Theology Conference, in a paper entitled ‘Natural and Unnatural Natural Law’, delivered in March 2014. James Carr, postgraduate researcher at the University of Bristol, has provided me with the support of a fellow Ratzinger scholar. I thank him for the opportunity to participate in a session of the University of Bristol Theology Department Postgraduate Reading Group, in March 2014, where he delivered a paper entitled ‘A Catholic thinker confronting the crisis of modernity: the political thought of Joseph Ratzinger’. Dr. Mary Frances McKenna of the Ratzinger Symposium, has both inspired me by her own Ratzinger scholarship and has provided me with welcome and support for my own work. I thank her for giving me the opportunity to trial aspects of Chapter Two, on the relationship between Ratzinger and human rights, at the Third Annual Ratzinger Symposium, held at the University of Maynooth, Dublin, in June 2015, in a paper entitled ‘Human Rights and the Crisis of Cultures: How Ratzinger’s Logos Theology Can Heal Human Rights’, to be published in 2016 in the Proceedings of the symposium. I would like to thank Emma Gardner and Dr. Nicholas Martin, of the Graduate Centre for Europe at the University of Birmingham, for their encouragement and enthusiasm and for giving me the opportunity to trial aspects of Chapter Three, on Plato, at the Ninth Annual Conference of the Graduate Centre for Europe, entitled ‘Dissident Voices’, held at the University of Birmingham in March 2015, in a paper entitled ‘Plato’s Finger: Can Transcendence still talk to Europe?’, to be published in 2016 in the Proceedings of the conference. I am also indebted to the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, for the opportunity to trial aspects of Chapter Eight, on Habermas, as part of the series of Wednesday Research Seminars, in a paper entitled ‘Religion, Reason and Rights’, delivered to departmental staff and postgraduate researchers in April 2015. I have also been given confidence and encouragement as a result of participation in the University of Birmingham Annual Postgraduate Research Poster Competition, where I was given the opportunity to extend my communication skills and to present my research to a wider audience, which included members of the general public, undergraduates, fellow postgraduate researchers and members of the university teaching staff. RATZINGER’S LOGOS THEOLOGY AND THE HEALING OF HUMAN RIGHTS A Critical Engagement with the Regensburg Lecture TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS………………………………….1 1.1 STARTING POINT: THE REGENSBURG LECTURE ...................................................1 1.2 THE HEALING OF HUMAN RIGHTS............................................................................3 1.3 CONTRIBUTION TO RATZINGER STUDIES ..............................................................4 1.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS.....................................................................................7 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS AND SEVEN KEY THEMES ……………………...11 CHAPTER TWO INTRODUCING RATZINGER, REASON AND RIGHTS...……..14 2.1 THE LOGOS AND HUMAN RIGHTS............................................................................16 2.2 THE RATZINGER ENDORSEMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ......................................18 2.3 THE RATZINGER CRITIQUE OF HUMAN RIGHTS ............................................... 23 2.4 CRITIQUING RATZINGER.......................................................................................... 29 PART ONE: FOUNDATIONS OF LOGOS THEOLOGY CHAPTER THREE THE GREEK LOGOS AND THE HELLENIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY…………………………………………………………………………….38 3.1 HELLENIZATION AND DEHELLENIZATION ..........................................................39 3.2 READING PLATO WITH RATZINGER........................................................................57 3.3 CRITIQUING RATZINGER ...........................................................................................70 3.4 PLATO, LOGOS THEOLOGY AND AN INCLUSIVE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS .................................................................................................................................. 76 CHAPTER FOUR THE JOHANNINE LOGOS AND THE HELLENIZATION OF JUDAISM……………………………………………………………………..……………..81 4.1 THE HELLENIZATION OF JUDAISM ........................................................................ 82 4.2 SOURCES OF THE LOGOS .......................................................................................... 89 4.3 UNDERSTANDING THE LOGOS FROM FIVE PERSPECTIVES ........................... 92 4.4 THE INCLUSIVITY AND EXCLUSIVITY OF THE LOGOS.....................................101 4.5 READING THE PROLOGUE WITH RATZINGER ..................................................110 4.6 JOHANNINE LOGOS THEOLOGY AND AN INCLUSIVE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ............................................................................................................................... 112 . CHAPTER FIVE THE LOGOS THEOLOGY OF JUSTIN MARTYR……………....118 5.1 JUSTIN’S LOGOS THEOLOGY AND THE ONTOLOGY OF PLATONISM ..........119 5.2 JUSTIN’S LOGOS THEOLOGY AND THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF JUDAISM….... 126 5.3 JUSTIN’S LOGOS THEOLOGYAND THE ETHICS OF STOICISM........................ 132 5.4 READING JUSTIN WITH RATZINGER.....................................................................139 5.5 JUSTIN’S LOGOS THEOLOGY AND AN INCLUSIVE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS................................................................................................................................. 146 PART ONE CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………. 156 PART TWO: RESTORING THE LOGOS TO THE CULTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS CHAPTER SIX THE GENEALOGY OF HUMAN RIGHTS…………..…………….161 6.1 CONTRASTING GENEALOGIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS........................................
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