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In the Beginning…': A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall (Ressourcement: Retrieval & Renewal in Catholic Thought)

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This book is a collection of four homilies that were given by Cardinal Ratzinger on the creation account in Genesis. It gives a Catholic understanding of the theological implications from the teachings of creation found in Genesis. Cardinal Ratzinger starts with the importance about the necessity of properly understanding this, and the problems with ignoring the creation account. He shows how you cannot answer the question of "What we do" without first addressing the question of "What we are".

From this he proceeds to give a brilliant understanding of what it means to be a human being. What kind of creature we are and our place in creation. His first homily is based on "God the Creator" and its relevance to the differences between our view of God creating the world and other religions views. He then goes to his second homily "The Meaning of the Biblical Account", which gives a more balanced understanding of creation, and its cultural significance at the time. His third homily, "The creation of the Human Being" gives an understanding of what it means to be human and our place and reasons for being. His fourth, and final homily, "Sin and Salvation" gives and understanding of our nature, and our responsibility in our decision-making. Also touches upon the resurrection and the way it addresses our innate struggles. The book ends with an appendix that briefly goes into certain other semi related topics.

It should also be mentioned that Cardinal Ratzinger addresses the scientific implications of the creation account very little in this book. He addresses the problem in proving that the creation account was never meant to be a strict fundamentalist scientific view of how the world was created. But an actual unfolding, with different aspects given all throughout the bible, that directly addresses certain misunderstandings in other religions at the time and, at the same time, giving us a deeper understanding of our place in the world. He also shows how each account, cannot be separated from the others. And only in looking at the bible as a whole can you get the real meaning of the creation account. With that said, there are certain scientific dimensions that are involved in the creation accounts that cannot be denied. Cardinal Ratzinger briefly addresses this. But does not get into too much detail.

Overall, this book is a short, easy to read, explanation of the Christian understanding of what it means to be a human being, our nature, and our limitations. It gives an often misunderstood understanding of the creation account. This book is highly recommended for anybody who is trying to understand the Christian view of man, and the biblical basis for that.

It is to be noted that from 1981 to 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger held a second job in the Vatican. In addition to being Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he also served as President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. The latter board provides oversight for the study of Sacred Scripture within the Catholic church.
This set of homilies on the first chapters of Genesis, in continuity with the great encyclical Humani Generis by Pope Pius XII, sets forth the Catholic approach, which is neither fundamentalist nor rationalist. For example, how long is one of these days of creation? The fundamentalist says 24 hours or you're damned. The rationalist says billions of years or you're a fool. The Catholic says: Just as long as God wanted it to be, and not a minute more or less. How does the timeless God experience time? Not as we do. The Second Letter of Peter says "A thousand years are in your sight as a day, and a day as a thousand years." (But this gives us two yardsticks, which are not the same.) Since only God witnessed the first five days of creation, they were divine days, not human days.
We may hear more on this subject from Pope Benedict XVI in an encyclical in coming months. Stay tuned.

In this collection consists of five separate homilies of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on the following themes: the Creator, the Biblical account of creation, the creation of man, original sin and faith in creation. This very theological work concisely lays out the Catholic understanding of creation.

Cardinal Ratzinger begins by explain how the passages in Genesis about creation should be interpreted, explaining that they cannot be read in isolation from the New Testament. They must be read with Christ.

He goes on to look at the symbolism found in Genesis, especially the symbolism of the Sabbath day with its meaning as a day of worship. He then goes on to assess human responsibilities to look after the world.

The third homily looks specifically to creation of the human being, arguing that all humans have their origins in the same earth and are all created in God's image and likeness. He argues that Genesis explains that there is one humanity and that through Christ humans can become the children of God. Cardinal Ratzinger then goes on to argue that the Biblical accounts explain what human beings are, whereas the theory of evolution explains how human beings developed. He affirms that the natural sciences explain how the divine project of creation grows.

The fourth homily addresses the issues of sin, human freedom and original sin, explaining that humans cannot save themselves and that Christ instead has redeemed humanity.

The concluding chapter talks about the reception of the idea of creation in modern times. He looks at the suppression of faith, naturalism, nihilism, and gnosticism. He finishes by arguing that the question of creation does matter and that creation is an inseparable part of Redemption.

As a scientist myself, I was very interested in this book: how does a religious man explain the christian creation story? In particular, how does he relate it to modern scientific insights. After all, the two seems to be mutually exclusive?

Well, they are not. The author shows in a very credible way that the two can coexist next to each other, and that each of them can be interpreted in such a way that this makes sense. Science is related to 'how-questions', and religion to 'why-questions'.

Besides this interesting perspective, the book is also very well written. It is my impression that every sentence has been well thought through, and that the author has taken the time to write a short book. It is easy to write long books, filled with many words and little real information. But writing a concise book, which is to the point all the time, that is something different. The author has achieved exactly that.

This is definitely a book I can recommend to everyone. You do not need to be religious to appreciate it. Perhaps it is even more interesting if you are critical to religion. I will definitely read it again to rethink everything once more.

Recommended!

No time could be better than now for this text to be read by Americans. Catholics stand between adamant fundamentalists and extreme atheistic evolutionists. This text is something I have desired to see for a long time. It is often difficult to show atheists that Catholics are not opposed to evolution and still show fundamentalists that we are not atheistic. I believe that reading this text and also sharing it can indeed help with dialog along these lines. Ratzinger presents insights about the true importance of belief in being created, a message that can help change the view of the world for many. Additionally, he exquisitely discusses the nature of sin in mankind, giving a brief, yet profound depth to a subject which is so often avoided in modernity.

I recommend this to all who would like to see and understand a truly Catholic stance on the nature of belief in creation. In particular, I suggest it to parties that believe one of the two extremes mentioned above. Nonetheless, there are insights to be gained by all in reading this marvelous text.

I expected a dry theological treatise, but found instead a tenderly presented explanation of Scripture. He presents creation as the expression of God's love. He emphasizes the unity of the Old and New Testaments. Evolution is shown as consistent with Scripture, as long as God is acknowleged. Pope Benedict is familiar with current and past intellectual trends that influence how people see the creation. A good book to read to get acquainted with the new Pope.

I found this book, which contains homilies by then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), an excellent teaching on the Roman Catholic Church's interpretation of the first two chapters of Genesis. Cardinal Ratzinger writes exceptionally clearly on complex issues and his arguments are truly a delight to follow. This book is an excellent antidote to Catholics who think the Church takes Genesis 1-2 literally as do Evangelical Christians. Cardinal Ratzinger explains well the concepts of salvation history and that science and Christian belief are truly not in conflict. I found this very orthodox teaching a wonderful reminder. This book is an excellent source for anyone who wants to understand the Catholic Church's teaching on the Genesis creation stories and the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

In the Beginning was a delight to read. One should not feel intimidated by the author. I must say I found the new pope's style very poetic and easy to follow in contrast to the writings of John Paul II whose style was more academic. I appreciated the distinction he made regarding the necessity of understanding the "literal" meaning of Sacred Scripture in the context of its literary form. For instance, if I read an Aesop Fable as though it were history, I would be missing the true literal meaning of the text - literal in the sense of literature or the means of communication based on writing. This must be taken into consideration, and everyone in fact does - even fundamentalist/literalists, although they won't admit it. For instance they would not claim Jesus actually taught we should eat his Body and drink his Blood. They would claim that our Lord's words in John 6 were metaphorical. The tragedy occurs when one interprets Sacred Scripture apart from the Church of Christ, the Church that is his Body and possesses his mind as St. Paul so clearly teaches. Then scriptural interpretation becomes absolutely subjective. The Holy Father also focuses on the true Christian attitude toward Creation, a doctrine that has been totally lost to the public mindset. Altogether, the book clears up many misconceptions regarding Catholic doctrine.

This short book is a compendium of sermons the Pope gave during a Lenten season. It is necessary reading for people who are temped to take the Bible literally. It also gives others alternative understanding of Genesis and that there is a deeper meaning to the book. The Pope does an excellent illumination of the creation story from Genesis and the challenge which modern science seems to present to literal accuracy of these passages in the Bible. He presents the lessons we can learn from the creation story and accepts the science which seems to contradict the Bible.

I found it so engaging I passed it along to our local Pastor to read during this Lenten season.

Ratzinger cuts through to the heart of the matter and highlights what is at stake when we accept/reject the belief that God created the universe. He shows that creation goes hand in hand with redemption and that belief in creation is not only rational but the best hypothesis. Ratzinger, like Aquinas, gives the opponents (materialista/marxists etc) of creation their due. This is indeed the hallmark of Ratzinger - his absolute insistence on the relationality of human beings mirroring the relationality of God. He gives effect to this belief by letting his opponents speak, albeit he rejects their arguments! Perhaps a little too short to be deeply satisfying.