/lit/ - Literature

>>23138355
>Where do I go after Baudrillard / Byung-Chul Han?

Ratzinger.

>>22722491
>Bro Where's my framework and my meaning bro

I've got just the man for you

The true Catholic political position in the modern world is unironically the Third Position.

It combines the Church's economic and social teachings with its timeless teachings on morality and sexual ethics.

It's merely become impolite to say this since the deaths of Franco and Salazar and the rise of absolute American hegemony.

As America begins to falter, I expect it to round back into fashion as a topic in Catholic thought.

Not to mention the monarchists have come back into fashion in the last decade. Hell, our lad Assad wants to make himself a king, so that's a feather in their cap.

Anyway, communism will never Catholic because it is inexorably materialist and therefore has no room in its vision of reality for the Resurrection.

Thoughts on Ratzinger/Benedict?

He's clearly brilliant, and his arc is so fascinating to me. He started off as a huge admirer of the nouvelle theologie, but post-Vatican 2 he grows increasingly more trad, culminating of course in issuing Summorum Pontificum during his papacy. One seems to see a visible regret for what became of the Church after Vatican 2.

I've read some of the Jesus of Nazareth series; they're brilliant. Need to finish, and I want to read Introduction to Christianity soon enough.

>most /lit/ Pope

Ratzinger/Benedict's got to be up there, right? The man is arguably the most interesting thinker of the entire 20th Century. It's especially intriguing how he started out as a champion of nouvelle théologie but then later in life went hardcore Trad, culminating in Summorum Pontificum.

>>22044756
The current system merely reifies what came before it. We still have an aristocracy, a small amount of people that control most of the wealth and most of the power. We still have propaganda, a secret police, all manner of these things that have supposedly been discarded from the time of totalitarianism.

It's all a crock of shit. That's what grates on people, the glaring hypocrisy of it all. What democracy? The average person matters as little as they ever have. What liberalism? You can still have your life ruined for saying the wrong thing. What capitalism? The little guy still gets fucked over at the expense of big landed interests.

It's all fucking bullshit and there's not any instance of anybody in power practicing what they preach. And now with the internet we can call out the bullshit in real time. That's what's leading to collapse, everybody realizing that the bastions of liberty and democracy are just full of shit.

>>21544465
>neurotic outcast freaks

The only people who have ever mattered. The original Christians were neurotic outcast freaks, too.

Ratzinger's prediction is coming to pass. The Church is shrinking and losing its place in society, being whittled down to the smaller, purer Church that he foresaw. But he also predicted that, when this had happened, what would be left was something special, something that had the potential to build it all back up again.

>>21494888
The Catholic Church is primed for a revival. Ironically, I think Vatican 2 will play a role in this. Not the "spirit of Vatican 2" which produced the shitty Boomer Catholicism, but the actual documents and statements that came from the Council itself. Ratzinger dying seems like it has prompted a lot of priests and bishops to start going back over what he actually wrote, which will lead them back to the original texts of the Second Vatican Council.

It may be that Vatican 2 actually finally gets implemented as it was supposed to be implemented, and it actually does revive the Church in the West as the Council was originally called to do. We shall see. But a chance to recover the original intent of Vatican 2 feels at hand, as the Boomers finally start to die off.

You know, I know about Jesus of Nazareth and I know about Introduction to Christianity, what's some more obscure Ratzinger I could be reading? I want some deep cuts.

One thing I really like about Ratzinger is his heavy emphasis on Christ Himself. The person of Jesus. Insofar as that's a product of Nouvelle Theologie, that's to its credit.

Don't get me wrong. As a good Catholic I of course love Mary and the saints. I'm getting ready to pray my daily Rosary as we speak. But there IS the risk in Catholicism of Jesus Himself getting obscured, in our devotions to the Blessed Mother and to the saints. Ratzinger is not wrong to want to bring a renewed emphasis to Jesus Himself, because after all that is what makes Christianity what it is. The person of Jesus, what He did, and why He is so unique among the founders of the various religions.