Placing Joseph Ratzinger within the “Synthetic” Tradition... of the Theological Anthropology of the Heart
Placing Joseph Ratzinger within the “Synthetic” Tradition... of the Theological Anthropology of the Heart

Summary/Abstract: This article begins with a chronological outline of the two main “traditions” of understanding the heart: the “analytic” tradition which treats the heart as a particular faculty of the human person, and the “synthetic” tradition which treats it as in some way transcending a particular faculty. Then, it looks at the contemporary search for a theological anthropology of the heart. Following this, it examines Joseph Ratzinger’s theological anthropology of the heart. More specifically, it looks at this understanding as found in his commentary on Gaudium et Spes, his assessment of the patristic understanding of the heart, and as revealed in his Jesus of Nazareth and Mary: The Church at the Source. Then, it investigates his symbolic theology of the Father’s heart, followed by how both the human heart and the Father’s heart are revealed in the heart of Jesus. It concludes with a few thoughts on how a synthetic theological anthropology of the heart might assist us in healing our contemporary anthropological disintegration.

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