Divine Pedagogy in the Face of Educational Crisis. On the Approach of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI

Abstract

Joseph Ratzinger – Benedict XVI, one of the greatest thinkers of mankind and the greatest Pope-theologian in the history of the modern Church, has devoted much attention to a critical analysis of the spirit of the age and the spiritual condition of modern people, living as if God did not exist. The Pope’s diagnosis is unequivocal and utterly pessimistic. He writes openly about the spiritual void, the drama of the times and even the tunnel in which humanity has found itself. At the core of this condition, according to Benedict XVI, there are two postmodern phenomena: relativism and secularism, leading people, above all young people, into spiritual regress and deformation. In the face of these threats and their disastrous consequences, the Pope from Germany proposes that the spiritual development of young people become the most urgent challenge and priority task to be carried out jointly by all the different groups of educators: parents, teachers, pedagogues, catechists, and the clergy. Of the many tasks and remedies needed to achieve success, which Benedict XVI outlined for educators in his speeches and writings, three aspects are particularly fundamental: personalism, theo- and Christocentrism, and integrity and reference to conscience. The perception of a young person as a subject through his or her ontological relationship with the living God revealed in Jesus Christ and the formation of a conscience, through which a young person may take responsibility for himself or herself and co-responsibility for others, guarantee authentic education and can restore hope to contemporary people and the world.