Frühe Intuitionen Joseph Ratzingers zu einer katholischen Universität der Zukunft

This paper examines Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s reflections on knowledge and universities over sixty-five years, focusing on the constant features in his thought by analyzing his first and last pronouncements on these topics. Rather than summarizing all his writings, the author pro-vides a comparative analysis of Ratzinger's early address in 1959 as a newly appointed profes-sor at the University of Bonn and his later speeches as Pope. In the 1959 lecture, Ratzinger talked about the challenge of modern secularism, emphasizing an increasing split between faith and reason and the growth of "neo-paganism" within the Church while also highlighting the implica-tion of technological globalization that was going to reshape the role of Christian universities in the modern world. Then further it develops how Ratzinger's concerns evolved, particularly his critique of the rupture between faith and reason and the secularization of the Church, up to the re-flections in 2022 on how Christian universities must maintain a connection with faith and reason. Drawing on Ratzinger's lifelong exploration of these issues, this paper points out three constant features of his thought: the imperative of the integration of faith and reason at universities, "crea-tive minorities" as an imperative internally both in the Church and at the level of academia; and the specific chance given by contemporary secularization to Christian universities for a renewal of their educational mission.