Dialogue Derailed [Hardcover]

Joseph Ratzinger has shaped and guided the church's understanding of its mission to proclaim the good news, as well as to forge good relations with non-Catholic Christian communities, other religious traditions, and the secular world at large. Through a critique of Ratzinger's theology, this book draws attention to the importance of theological discourses originating from non-European contexts. Mong highlights 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 Mong concurs with much of Ratzinger's analysis of the problems in modern society--such as the aggressive secularism and crisis of faith in Europe--he focuses attention on the realities of religious pluralism in Asia, which require the church to adopt a different approach in its theological formulations and pastoral practices. With painstaking research, impeccable scholarship, penetrating analysis, and exemplary fair-mindedness, Mong digs deep into Ratzinger's . . . background to reveal his Eurocentric bias. . . . His work is the first analysis and assessment of the Bavarian theologian's work from the perspective of Asian realities. --From the preface by Peter C. Phan Mong's analysis of Joseph Ratzinger's fight against the 'dictatorship of relativism' is comprehensive and penetrating, enough to recommend the book to anyone who cares about the contours of contemporary Catholic theology. But the book's greatest contribution lies in showing how Ratzinger's remedy for European relativism becomes toxic when forced upon Asians who do not suffer from this disease--an example of how even the best ideas can damage us when applied inappropriately. --Scott Steinkerchner, Blessed Sacrament Priory, Madison, WI If theologians, like Ratzinger, begin from a perspective of the priority of the universal church over the local; il3,