The Regensburg Lecture Hardcover – April 30, 2007

Benedict, in his own words, paints with broad strokes, his lecture. He is speaking to knowledgable people in summary fashion. Schall elucidate on the strokes. In response to another reviewer. This is not an exhaustive exploration. The background knowledge of PBs listeners is assumed.

With clear and understandable language though, Benedict lays out the current state of "understanding" of western civilization. It's own understanding of itself, science and religion.

Juxtapose here "islamofascism". The west likes to think of itself as highly civilized and rational. Quite to the contrary though, it has set itself up in willful defiance to reason and emerges as banefully naive. To succumb one way, fall, or another, evolve into, what the islamofascists have become.

Benedict lands two very hard body blows of reason.

Schall is trying to invite the contenders to the discussion, however, neither group is listening.

notable book, fine seller

The huge clash between certain religious factions and the Christian or post Christian world is nit understood by many. The Regensburg Lecture sheds light on what's at the root of the divisions.

Did you ever think a short man so close to the heart of Bavaria would end up in Rome. Would his call for rational care and brotherhood of friend ship, and humanity would reach out to people of good will to drop the Fascistic ideologies? Benedict for his short term, of "Supreme Pontiff" has filled for that short term the "Shoes of the Fisherman.".

Benedict VI's thought is so clear and logical that is is a pleasure to read. To put it with an enjoyable expansion of that thought makes this small book one that I will keep a very long time.

Benedict shows once again why he is such a superior intellect. Amazing range of connections. Schall's exposition of the lecture is first rate.

I'm an admirer of Benedict XVI's erudition, and I've read much (although by no means all) of his vast theological and philosophical writings. I find his style overly teutonic and dry, and I often disagree with his conclusions. But I rarely close one of his books without having learned something of value that either fruitfully challenges or clarifies my thinking. He is a very good thinker indeed.

That's why I was delighted to learn that the notorious Regensburg lecture had made its way into print in James Schall's book. Upon reading (and re-reading) the lecture, I was impressed. It's a tidy summative apologia for Hellenized Christianity that places a premium on reason/logos, and in turn defends values commonly associated with Christian humanism. Benedict's reference to the 14th century remark of Manuel II Paleologus--"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached"--is intended as an illustration of the broader point that "voluntarism" in religion can lead to a subjective/fanatic flouting of rational moral codes (such as those against violence). Clearly, Benedict could have invoked any number of illustrations from the history of Christianity rather than Islam, and perhaps he should've. But it's also the case that in our day and age, it's Islam more than any other religion that's actually breeding perpetrators of violence (which is not necessarily to say that Islam itself is a violent religion).

So far, so good. But what's disappointing is the 129-page commentary that Schall has wrapped around Benedict's 4,000 word lecture. Schall's commentary is overly-long and short on analysis. Even he senses that there's something a bit strange about devoting an entire book to a single lecture (p. 13). So he scrambles to justify the project by inflating the value of Benedict's words, claiming that "this lecture is one of the fundamental tractates of our time" (p. 9).* This claim simply stretches credulity. Benedict's defense of natural theology is summative, not original. I suspect the Holy Father would be astounded to hear one of his academic lectures, which was not delivered ex cathedra, described in such a way.

Schall's book is terribly repetitious, sometimes virtually repeating sentences back-to-back--a common "filler" tactic. And his "commentary" on Benedict's summative speech is itself little more than summative. It would've been grand, for example, had Schall bothered to speculate as to whether the rational model defended by Benedict was more a product of modernity than Hellenistic thought, or to what extent voluntarism (such as that defended by Duns Scotus or, later, thinkers such as Soren Kierkegaard) might enrich religious experience. But he never ventures outside of the strict parameters set by Benedict's short speech. So his commentary is a combination of hyperbolic praise and a needlessly long and totally uncritical re-hashing of what Benedict said at Regensburg.

Conclusion: the Holy Father's lecture is well worth reading. But Schall's lackluster commentary and inflated praise overall makes this a dreary book.
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* Hyperbolic as this claim is, it's nothing compared to the publisher's book blurb which, misquoting Schall, incredibly claims that the lecture is "as timeless as the Gettysburg Address, Pericles' Funeral Oration, Plato's Apology, and Henry V's Speech on St. Crispin's Day"! The same over-zealous marketing editor also calls Schall "our world's modern G.K. Chesterton."