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Sacrifice and Mission in the Ecclesiology of Joseph Ratzinger

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Sacrifice and Mission in the Ecclesiology of Joseph Ratzinger THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Sacrifice and Mission in the Ecclesiology of Joseph Ratzinger A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By Aaron Matthew Weldon Washington, D.C. 2017 Sacrifice and Mission in the Ecclesiology of Joseph Ratzinger Aaron Matthew Weldon, Ph.D. Director: Christopher J. Ruddy, Ph.D. In Eucharistic Prayer III, the priest prays that the Church’s sacrifice “advance the peace and salvation of all the world.” The prayer implies that this sacrificial offering in the liturgy has effects beyond the Church. Attention to Christian sacrifice, an activity that may seem internal to ecclesial life, can contribute to an understanding of the mission of the Church. Joseph Ratzinger has aimed to emphasize the sacrificial dimension of the Eucharist, and he understands the Eucharist to be fundamental to the nature and mission of the Church. Hence, he serves as a guide for an exploration of sacrifice and mission. The dissertation argues that according to Ratzinger, the Church prolongs the mission of her head, Jesus Christ, whose own mission of pro-existence achieves its apex in the offering of his very self as a sacrifice for the world, and the mission of the Church is thus to offer herself as a sacrifice to the glory of God and for the salvation of the world, interiorly in her worship and exteriorly in her mission. Ratzinger’s theology of sacrifice consists of four basic elements. First, sacrifice is natural. Second, true sacrifice, as Jesus Christ shows, is the offering of oneself. Third, self-offering will necessarily entail something like death, that is, immolation. Fourth, because Jesus Christ accomplishes the fulfillment of sacrifice, human persons offer true sacrifice in Christ. The dissertation develops this argument in four chapters. Chapter one presents his understanding of Christ as the person who is totally for others and introduces the concept of vicarious representation [Stellvertretung]. This chapter develops Ratzinger’s linking of Christ’s pro- existence [Für-Sein] and atonement. Chapter two discusses Ratzinger’s understanding of the Church as the body of Christ. Chapter three analyzes Ratzinger’s theology of liturgy, focusing on his understanding of the liturgy as sacrifice. Chapter four investigates his understanding of mission vis-à-vis sacrifice. The conclusion develops an hypothesis for how vicarious representation works in the thought of Ratzinger. This dissertation by Aaron Matthew Weldon fufills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Systematic Theology approved by Christopher J. Ruddy, Ph.D., as Director, and by Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D., and Michael Root, Ph.D, as Readers. ____________________________________ Christopher J. Ruddy, Ph.D., Director ____________________________________ Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D., Reader ____________________________________ Michael Root, Ph.D., Reader ii Table of Contents Acknowledgments vi Introduction: To Advance the Peace and Salvation of All the World 1 0.1. Rationale 1 0.1.1. Sacrifice as integral to the mission of the Church 1 0.1.2. Joseph Ratzinger as guide to understanding this relationship 4 0.2. The Term “Sacrifice” 7 0.3. Challenges to Sacrificial Theology 11 0.3.1. Incarnational theology in Marie-Dominique Chenu 13 0.3.2. Spiritual ‘sacrifice’ in Robert Daly 17 0.3.3. Natural Sacrifice fulfilled in Christ Joseph Ratzinger’s approach 24 0.4. Plan 27 0.5. Scope 29 Chapter 1: The Mission of Christ as Pro-Existence 33 1.1. Key Features in Joseph Ratzinger’s Thought and Their Relationship to Christology 35 1.2. The Heart of Jesus’ Mission: He Brings God 48 1.3. Pro-Existence 54 1.3.1. Jesus in from and for the Father 55 1.3.2. Pro-existence manifested in vicarious sacrifice 58 1.3.3. Sacrifice as love 63 1.3.4. Love is stronger than death 66 1.3.5. Sacrifice and truth 72 1.4. The Death of Jesus 74 1.5. Conclusion 77 iii Chapter 2: Communion Ecclesiology in Ratzinger 79 2.1. People of God 82 2.1.1. A misunderstood term 82 2.1.2. Israel as people of God 84 2.1.3. Pilgrim people 89 2.2. Body of Christ 90 2.2.1. Jesus and the Eucharist 90 2.2.2. Eucharist and Holy Orders 92 2.2.3. Incorporated into Christ 94 2.2.4. Bride of Christ 97 2.3. The Holy Spirit and the Church 98 2.3.1. Spirit as communion 99 2.3.2. Church as communion 101 2.4. Conclusion 106 Chapter 3: The Spirit of Eucharistic Sacrifice 108 3.1. The Nature of Liturgy: Basic Features 110 3.1.1. The priority of adoration 110 3.1.2. Eschatology 114 3.1.2.1. Looking towards fullness 114 3.1.2.2. Heavenly liturgy 118 3.1.3. The givenness of liturgy 119 3.2. Participation in Christ’s Sacrifice 125 3.2.1. Self-offering of the Church, head and members 125 3.2.2. Worship in accordance with reason 131 3.3. The Erotic-Agapic Structure of Eucharistic Sacrifice 136 3.3.1. Liturgical ascent, descent 136 3.3.2. Beauty, eros, and sacrifice 139 3.3.3. Liturgy and culture 142 4.0. Conclusion 147 iv Chapter 4: The Meaning of Mission as Sacrifice 149 4.1. The Pro-Existent Community 150 4.1.1. Christian brotherhood distinct from the world to be for the world 151 4.1.2. Bearing burdens 157 4.1.3. The “royal way” of vicarious representation 160 4.2. Witness to Truth 168 4.2.1. To pre-Christian culture: interculturality 168 4.2.2. To post-Christian culture 176 4.2.2.1. Creative minorities 177 4.2.2.2. Witness to the state 185 4.3. Conclusion 191 In Conclusion: A Note on Stellvertretung 195 Thesis 1, on person as relation 200 Thesis 2, on the gravity of the Cross 208 Thesis 3, on human freedom 212 Thesis 4, on the mystery of grace 214 Synthesis, on the Church’s participation in the gravity of grace 215 Conclusion 220 Bibliography 222 v Acknowledgments It has been a privilege to have spent time with the writings of Joseph Ratzinger, a true churchman, whose work both provokes thought and inspires devotion. I am thankful for his service to the Church. I am most grateful for the direction of Christopher Ruddy, a scholar who is the kind of theologian I aspire to be: patient, charitable, and, above all, devoted to Jesus Christ and his Church. My readers, Chad Pecknold and Michael Root, provided helpful guidance, as did Fr. Nicholas Lombardo, particularly in the project’s early stages. Fr. Thomas Joseph White gave me helpful direction in my research on Thomistic doctrine on merit for others. Joel Shenk, John Meinert, Patrick Fleming, Josh Brumfield, and Brett Salkeld have been faithful friends throughout my studies. I am especially thankful for the support of my family. My parents, Mike and Kristy, have encouraged me since I began studies at Fuller Seminary. It is a testament to their generosity that, even when my brothers and I chose paths they did not understand, they have supported us nevertheless. My brothers, Grant and Tyler, have also been unfailing in their support. Perhaps no person in my family celebrated my academic achievements as did my grandfather, Jack Weldon, himself a man who dedicated his life to education. The only sadness that tinges this work’s completion is that he is not here to enjoy the moment with me. To my wife, Lindsay, I owe a profound debt of gratitude for her patience and good humor, as I have been “at work” far more than a husband and father ought to be. From my life with her and our sons, Elijah Thomas, Abel Matthias, and Isaac Marion, I have begun to grasp the truth in that saying of Jesus Christ, often quoted by Joseph Ratzinger: one gains one’s life by giving it up for others. This is for her. vi Introduction: To Advance the Peace and Salvation of All the World 0.1. Rationale 0.1.1. Sacrifice as integral to the mission of the Church The language of sacrifice permeates Catholic liturgy. As Sacrosanctum concilium states: “Our saviour inaugurated the eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood at the last supper on the night he was betrayed, in order to make his sacrifice of the cross last throughout time until he should return (SC, §47).”1 Christian worship is an act of sacrifice, in which the Church offers the sacramental body of Christ to God in order that she might be reconciled with the Lord and be received into communion with the Triune God. The Church’s sacrifice of the Mass embodies her devotion to Almighty God. In this sense, a theology of sacrifice reflects on a matter related to the interior life of the Church. At the same time, in Eucharistic Prayer III, the priest prays that the Church’s sacrifice “advance the peace and salvation of all the world.” By referring to “the world,” the prayer implies that this sacrificial offering has effects beyond the Church. How does the sacrifice advance the salvation of the world? Perhaps it does so by bringing about the salvation of those gathered to offer the sacrifice and to consume the body and blood of the victim. These people are part of the world, and thus, perhaps their own salvation constitutes the 1 See Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils: Volume Two: Trent to Vatican II, ed. Norman Tanner (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, [1972] 1990), p.
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