Resurrection Realism

Book excerpt: In Resurrection Realism, Patrick Fletcher examines the key role played by Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013), in the lively twentieth-century debates over the resurrection. Since Ratzinger has repeatedly claimed to be a follower of Augustine of Hippo, whose theology of resurrection has been so significant in Western Christianity, this book begins by identifying the key characteristics of that theology before studying Ratzinger's theology of resurrection in detail, examining the original sources of both Ratzinger and his German interlocutors, in order to paint the clearest picture to date of Ratzinger's thought on the resurrection. Some issues dealt with include: the development of Ratzinger's thought, the question of Augustinian duality and Thomistic hylomorphism, the salvation of matter, and the nature and identity of the risen body.