A critical examination of Joseph Ratzinger's theological approach to religious pluralism.

現今大多數神學家都接受宗教多元化不只是一種事實(de facto)，而且是一種原則(de iure) ，因此教會必須努力促進自身與其他信仰的和諧關係。榮休教宗本篤十六世、即天主教信理部前部長約瑟夫．拉辛格，除致力帶領教會加深理解宣揚福音的使命，也嘗試建立天主教與別的基督信仰群體、其他宗教傳統及俗世社會的良好關係。本文透過考察拉辛格的作品，指出他在基督宗教與其他宗教關係的教導，是源於西方哲學及神學思想的正統規範，這令他對採取相異的哲學或神學框架去思考這問題的神學家，予以存疑和批判。通過批判拉辛格神學思想的歐洲中心主義，本文希望能突顯出源自非歐洲處境的神學論述的重要性，尤其亞洲教會中在對教理的理解和牧養實踐之間的鴻溝，而亞洲神學家又如何在西方思想主導下竭力發聲。本文雖然贊同拉辛格就許多現今社會問題的分析，如世俗化的擴張及歐洲的信仰危機；但本文旨在聚焦於亞洲的宗教多元化的現況，而這現狀促使亞洲的教會，不論在神學建構及牧養實踐上，都需要採取迥然不同的策略。Religious pluralism is now accepted by many theologians as not simply a fact of life (de facto) but in principle (de iure), and therefore efforts must be undertaken by the church to promote harmonious relationship with other faiths. As the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and as former supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church, Joseph Ratzinger has shaped and guided the church’s understanding of its mission to proclaim the Good News as well as to forge good relationship with non-Catholic Christian communities, other religious traditions and with the secular world at large. By examining the works of Ratzinger, this dissertation reveals that his teaching on Christianity’s relationship with other religions assumes the normative status of Western philosophical and theological thought. This privileging of Western thought makes him critical and suspicious of theologians operating from a different philosophical or theological framework. Through a critique of Ratzinger’s theology I hope to draw attention to the importance of theological discourses originating from non-European contexts. Among other things, this work also serves to highlight the gap between a dogmatic understanding of the faith and the pastoral realities of the Asian church, as well as the difficulties faced by Asian theologians trying to make their voices heard in a church still dominated by Western thinking. While I concur with much of Ratzinger’s analysis of the problems in our society such as the aggressive secularism and crisis of faith in Europe I prefer to draw attention to the realities of religious pluralism in Asia which require the church to adopt a different approach in its theological formulations and pastoral practices.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Mong, Ih-Ren Ambrose.Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.Includes bibliographical references.Abstracts also in Chinese