The Eschatological Person
Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger in Dialogue
Foreword by D. Vincent Twomey
Series: Veritas
Imprint: Cascade Books
Both Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger insist that the human person remains shrouded in mystery without God's self-disclosure in the person of Jesus Christ. Like us, Jesus lived in a particular time and location, and therefore time and temporality must be part of the ontological question of what it means to be a human person. Yet, Jesus, the one who has time for us, ascended to the Father, and the bride of Christ awaits his return, and therefore time and temporality are conditioned by the eschatological. With this in mind, the ontological question of personhood and temporality is a question that concerns eschatology: how does eschatology shape personhood? Bringing together Schmemann and Ratzinger in a theological dialogue for the first time, this book explores their respective approaches and answers to the aforementioned question. While the two theologians share much in common, it is only Ratzinger's relational ontological approach that, by being consistently relational from top to bottom, consistently preserves the meaningfulness of temporal existence.
Andrew T. J. Kaethler is Academic Dean and Assistant Professor of Theology at Catholic Pacific College. He holds a PhD in systematic theology from the University of St Andrews.
“This work explores the intellectual affinities of two of the master theologians of our era—Schmemann representing the East, Ratzinger representing the West. . . . Anyone interested in East-West ecumenism, Trinitarian theology, theological anthropology, and/or eschatology will find this work a treasury to be mined for creative ecumenical approaches to these subjects.”
—Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame (Australia)
“A splendid study of two original thinkers, Schmemann and Ratzinger. . . . It highlights the significance of eschatology for a proper understanding of Christian anthropology, and so of the relationship between time and eternity. This book marks a milestone in the study of these two thinkers as well as being a significant contribution to theological anthropology.”
—D. Vincent Twomey, SVD, Pontifical University of St. Patrick’s College, emeritus
“Schmemann and Ratzinger may both have a relational understanding of personhood, but Andrew Kaethler draws out the differences with patience and transparency. Thoroughly at home in both the Eastern and the Western side of the dialogue, he sharply delineates the two positions. Kaethler’s bold and incisive censure of Schmemann as inconsistent and dualistic is sure to lead to an animated discussion about the way forward. As such, The Eschatological Person is a model of genuine ecumenical dialogue.”
—Hans Boersma, Nashotah House Theological Seminary
“Comparing and contrasting two distinctively idiosyncratic modern theologians, Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger, . . . we are shown how their exposition of Christian eschatology bears on the matter—in short, we are invited to recognize in this richly documented and yet very readable account what it means for us in Christian perspective to be persons in time.”
—Fergus Kerr, OP, St Albert’s Catholic Chaplaincy, University of Edinburgh
“This magnificent book challenges the nonspecialist reader and the specialists of theology, showing the need to place side by side a theology of history with the philosophies of history . . . in order to respond to the challenges of postmodernity. The relational ontology that emerges from the analysis of the two great authors here studied proves to be a fundamental and valuable tool for both cultural and ecumenical dialogue.”
—Giulio Maspero, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
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