These original essays offer thought-provoking perspectives on the complex evolution of the papacy in the last 500 years, from the pope as an Italian Renaissance prince to the pope as a universal pastor concerned with the well-being and salvation of human beings everywhere on earth. Structured by detailed studies of some of the most significant popes in this evolution, this volume explores how papal policies and actions were received as the popes sought to respond to the political, cultural, and social circumstances of their time. Included are essays examining pontificates from that of Julius II, warrior as well as patron of the arts, to the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon, to Paul VI's pleas for peace during the Cold War, and to John Paul II's itinerant, prophetic, and hierarchical model of a pastoral papacy in the age of television and the internet.

These original essays offer thought-provoking perspectives on the complex evolution of the papacy in the last 500 years, from the pope as an Italian Renaissance prince to the pope as a universal pastor concerned with the well-being and salvation of human beings everywhere on earth. Structured by detailed studies of some of the most significant popes in this evolution, this volume explores how papal policies and actions were received as the popes sought to respond to the political, cultural, and social circumstances of their time. Included are essays examining pontificates from that of Julius II, warrior as well as patron of the arts, to the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon, to Paul VI's pleas for peace during the Cold War, and to John Paul II's itinerant, prophetic, and hierarchical model of a pastoral papacy in the age of television and the internet.

Many contexts have shaped Benedict XVI during his life, but how did Joseph Ratzinger come to be such a great theologian "with his polemical bent and his keen eye for where the Gospel and the world diverge?" Joseph Ratzinger's Theological Ideas attempts to answer this question, tracing his development from the small Bavarian boy born on Easter Saturday 1927 to the priest, professor, pastor, Prefect, and finally Pope. The book explores tensions experienced by Joseph Ratzinger in his earlier life that have been important in shaping his chosen theological direction, as well as tensions that proceed from the ecumenical context of German theologizing to the relationship between academic freedom and Church authority. While providing great insight into how this particular theologian, now Pope Benedict XVI, emerged, Joseph Ratzinger's Theological Ideas also sheds light on this man's theological work as a whole.