The idea has simmered at the back of my mind for years. “I should get to that…yeah, I should do more of that…you know, I always profit when….” But as I opened the Big Box on Christmas morning and saw volume after volume of Ratzinger’s works–effectively doubling my collection of the current Pope’s opera–my long cherished but vague plan to “read Ratzinger someday” hardened into a new year’s resolve: before January 1, 2011, I will read every volume of Ratzinger that I currently own or that is given to me in the meantime.
I will not purchase books for this project. That would open a door for my academania. But I will cheerfully accept any volumes sent to Dr. Jeremy Holmes, care of Wyoming Catholic College.
My current collection comprises:
God’s Word
Theological Highlights of Vatican II
Introduction to Christianity
Church, Ecumenism, and Politics
Eschatology
Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief
The Ratzinger Report
The Nature and Mission of Theology
Milestones
New Outpourings of the Spirit
The Spirit of the Liturgy
Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith
On the Way to Jesus Christ
Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures
The Apostles
Jesus of Nazareth
On the binding of each volume I have put masking tape and written the date of publication, or multiple dates for essay collections. I will read through the bunch in chronological order, beginning with an essay published in 1961.
Ratzinger was born in 1927, which means that in 1961 he was one year older than I am now. So when I finish reading my Ratzinger collection this year, I will be the same age he was when he began to write my Ratzinger collection. Will it be time to begin something of my own? Time only will tell.
Whatever happens, this year will leave a wide and indelible mark on my intellectual life. Of that I am sure.
