This book is an original study of the Marian discourses of Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) who is recognised as a major modern theologian within and without the Catholic Church. It evinces Ratzinger's ability to open new horizons in inherited teaching and new ways of understanding it within the parameters of orthodox theology. This is especially true of his theological understanding of Mary and the relationship of her being to that of the Church. The author gives a succinct introduction to this Mariology, navigating through biblical theology, Patristics, history of dogma, Christian anthropology, and some contemporary developments in Marian studies. By highlighting the devotional and pastoral implications of Marian spirituality in the Church, Ratzinger is further portrayed as a faithful theologian and conserver of the truth of Christian worship (lex credendi, lex orandi). Undoubtedly, Ratzinger is a renowned theologian, but the scholarly nature of this text convincingly presents him as a sound and outstanding Mariologist. This book is the fi rst to offer a fascinatingly comprehensive and intelligible account of this subject by drawing together, for the fi rst time, passages from a very wide range of Ratzinger's writings.

This book is a study of a significant nexus in contemporary Catholic thought that has not had the attention that it deserves and is peculiarly relevant to the turbulent conditions of the Modern Church, especially in relation to Vatican II. It is a portrayal of Ratzinger's discerning grasp of Vatican II Mariology and ecclesiology as a peritus of note during the Council's sessions. The author lucidly sets out Ratzinger's understanding of Marian theology as key to the Church's self-understanding, which was the primary burden of Vatican II and still of the contemporary Church. Faithful to his hermeneutic, one of continuity in reform, the book casts Ratzinger's appraisal of the Mary-Church relation as receptive to a new shift in the decision not to have a separate Council document on Mary because Mary is already the full realisation of the Church. One of the book's strikingly novel contributions is its depiction of the Marian dimensions to the Church's liturgy and missionary evangelization. The author shows that Ratzinger's thought here is both intricate and coherent and that it discloses a profoundly unifying direction in the Council as a whole, that has not yet been fully understood.