Saint Patrick's Seminary and University

In his posthumously published collection of essays, Pope Benedict calls on the new generation of biblical scholars to develop methodological criteria for a “pneumatological exegesis” of the Old Testament. As a first step in this direction, the present article seeks to summarize Joseph Ratzinger’s/ Benedict XVI’s own theological reflection on the matter as we find it amply expounded both in his scholarly work and in his magisterium. First, Ratzinger’s understanding of revelation and of the place of both the Church and Scripture therein will be explained. Secondly, Ratzinger’s criteria for an interpretation of Scripture suited to revelation will be presented, with special emphasis on the way in which he both incorporates and goes beyond DV 12 with the help of systematic theology. In closing, Ratzinger’s own practice of Christological-pneumatological exegesis of the Old Testament is exemplified with an outline of his biblical Mariology.

Three library directors of theological libraries at small institutions discussed the challenges they face that appear particular to their libraries. Participants in the conversation group were then invited to share their own challenges and compare them with those of others to see how common or unusual such challenges may be in the world of theological libraries.

Cet article defend l'argument suivant : les perspectives des philosophies postmodernes peuvent eclairer le caractere complexe de la tradition chretienne et en liberer les possibilites negligees jusque la, et, a l'encontre du traditionnalisme et du fondamentalisme, faire une place meilleure a un riche pluralisme dans l'histoire. Est-ce que la revelation chretienne peut offrir une reponse au debat contemporain sur la nature et la raison ? Est-ce que la Parole de Dieu dite en Jesus-Christ implique necessairement un fondamentalisme ontologique sur la notion de verite ? Telle est la problematique a laquelle l'A. est confronte

The threefold story of Paul's conversion/call in Acts 9, 22 and 26 constitutes a most obvious example of repetition in the NT. Earlier studies have explored these passages to reconcile differences in the accounts, to identify different sources, or to compare them with Paul's own letters. The thesis of this article is that the repetitions found in these three passages are part of a narrative strategy which can be termed 'functional redundancy'. Using the techniques of redundancy found in the OT (as described by Meir Sternberg in The Poetics of Biblical Narrative), the article applies to Acts 9, 22 and 26 the five forms of repetition and variation which function in narrative redundancy: expansion, truncation, change of order, grammatical transformation and substitution. The analysis then demonstrates how seemingly insignificant differences in the three accounts are actually essential to their meaning. With each passage, the immediacy of the christophany increases as the role of Ananias and Paul's com panions decreases, contributing to the portrait of Paul in Acts as an eloquent witness to the faith.