Introduction to Christianity

by Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal; Foster, J. R.

• ISBN13: 9780898703160
• ISBN10: 0898703166
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1990-12-01
• Publisher: Ignatius Pr

Table of Contents

Preface	11	(4)
Introduction: ``I Believe-Amen''
Belief in the World of Today	15	(35)
Doubt and belief-Man's situation before the question of God	15	(6)
The origin of belief-Provisional attempt at a definition of belief	21	(4)
The dilemma of belief in the world of today	25	(5)
The boundary of the modern understanding of reality and the place of belief	30	(9)
Faith as standing firm and understanding	39	(5)
The intelligence of faith	44	(3)
``I believe in thee''	47	(3)
The Ecclesiastical Form of Faith	50	(17)
Introductory remarks on the history and structure of the Apostles' Creed	50	(3)
Limits and meaning of the text	53	(1)
Creed and dogma	54	(2)
The Creed as expression of the structure of faith	56	(11)
PART ONE: GOD
Prolegomena to the Subject of God	67	(10)
The Scope of the question	67	(6)
The confession of faith in the One God	73	(4)
The Biblical Belief in God	77	(17)
The problem of the story of the burning bush	77	(5)
The intrinsic assumption of the belief in Yahweh: the God of (Israel's) fathers	82	(3)
Yahweh, the ``God of our Fathers'' and the God of Jesus Christ	85	(6)
The idea of the name	91	(1)
The two sides of the biblical concept of God	92	(2)
The God of Faith and the God of the Philosophers	94	(11)
The decision of the early Church in favour of philosophy	94	(5)
The transformation of the God of the philosophers	99	(4)
The reflection of the question in the text of the Creed	103	(2)
Faith in God Today	105	(9)
The primacy of the logos	105	(6)
The personal God	111	(3)
Belief in the Triune God	114	(27)
A start at understanding	114	(13)
Positive significance	127	(14)
PART TWO: JESUS CHRIST
``I Believe in Jesus Christ, His only-Begotten Son, Our Lord''	141	(64)
The Problem of Faith in Jesus Today	141	(3)
Jesus the Christ: The Basic form of the Christological Confession of Faith	144	(11)
The dilemma of modern theology: Jesus or Christ?	144	(4)
The Creed's image of Christ	148	(3)
The point of departure of faith in Jesus: the cross	151	(2)
Jesus the Christ	153	(2)
True God and True Man	155	(15)
Jesus Christ
The formulation of the question	155	(2)
A modern stock idea of the ``historical Jesus''	157	(2)
The claim of christological dogma	159	(11)
The Different Paths Taken by Christology	170	(35)
Theology of the incarnation and theology of the cross	170	(2)
Christology and the doctrine of redemption	172	(3)
Christ, ``the last man''	175	(7)
Excursus: Christian Structures	182	(23)
The Development of Faith in Christ in the Christological Articles of the Creed	205	(50)
``Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary''	205	(8)
``Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried''	213	(10)
``Descended into hell''	223	(7)
``Rose again from the dead''	230	(7)
``Ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father almighty''	237	(6)
``From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead''	243	(12)
PART THREE: THE SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH
The Intrinsic Unity of the Last Statements in the Creed	255	(6)
Two Major Questions Posed by the Articles on The Spirit and the Church	261	(18)
``The holy, Catholic Church''	261	(7)
``The Resurrection of the body''	268	(11)
Index	279