Andrew T.J. Kaethler, The Eschatological Person: Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger in Dialogue (Cascade Books, Veritas Series, 2022)
There is a tendency within the Orthodox clan to uncritically genuflect to the life and writings of Alexander Schmemann. There are also the leanings of those with a more conservative bent within the Roman Catholic tribe to bow to Joseph Ratzinger. Both men, in short, are held high within their respective traditions. And, there can be no doubt both men drew deeply from the wells of the life-giving waters of the fuller Christian Tradition. The focus, though, of this probing PHD thesis turned insightful and informative book is the way Andrew Kaethler deftly and discerningly unpacks how and why Schmemann and Ratzinger turned to the essential issue of “personhood,” as well as their affinities, parting of paths, and the difference it makes.
The Eschatological Person is divided into 5 chapters, two on Schmemann (in which “Eschatology as Context” and “Eucharistic Beings” is pondered and explored), two on Ratzinger (in which “Eschatology as Christology” and “Beyond the Self” is massaged), and a concluding chapter in which “A Matter of Time” takes front stage.
Each of these chapters on Schmemann and Ratzinger are informed and walk the attentive reader to an understanding of Schmemann and Ratzinger in ways that are not reactive but lead to a more nuanced understanding of their theology of “personhood” (which is a more meaningful term than the trendy liberal notion of “individualism” and antedates their thinking). Kaethler, does to his credit, do his thoughtful best to heed and hear the layered and varied insights by Schmemann and Ratzinger on the complex relationship between eschatology, personhood, eucharist, Christology, the journey beyond the self and how all this takes place within the context of time yet the fuller truths revealed and unconcealed beyond time.
The Eschatological Person is more than just a comparative thesis on the similarities and differences between Schmemann and Ratzinger—there is also a significant prescriptive and evaluative commitment in terms of good, better, best—Ratzinger is given the nod as wiser and more insightful than Schmemann in their respective vision and analysis of personhood and the eschaton (both an unveiling, revealing and telos).
It was somewhat courageous of Kaethler to venture into such terrain given the fact Ratzinger is viewed with much suspicion by many post-Vatican II Roman Catholics and Schmemann is much-honoured and rarely questioned by many Orthodox. But, Kaethler has walked the attentive reader far beyond hagiography and caricatures. Those who wish a deeper read and understanding of Schmemann and Ratzinger would do well to linger with Kaethler and The Eschatological Person.
The fact that I have spent many a decade teaching in the area of political studies means I am often interested in the relationship between theology, anthropology, soteriology, tradition, exegesis and economics, states, politics, parties, empires and how these often at odds dialogues communicate and engage one another. When we take to flight and do not ponder, in both theory (“theoria”) and practice (“praxis”) the way these discrete yet needful approaches to life interpenetrate, we can, if not alert, slip into a more subtle form of gnosticism (thinking, ideas, spirit) disconnected to the complex hurly-burly of historic events, time and history. I would, for example, have been interested to know how Schmemann made sense of his notion of personhood while being pro-American and pro-Israeli.
I would also be interested to know how Ratzinger’s notion of personhood was unpacked in a fuller political way. He was often seen as reactionary and on the political right even by Roman Catholic moderates—needless to say, there was more to him than his critics make him out to be, but some of his thinking could go down such worrisome paths and trails. So, in conclusion, The Eschatological Person is a beauty, bounty and must-read, but a chapter that unpacked in a fuller and more comprehensive way the implications of ideas noted in the public realm would be appreciated to avoid the charge of a more nuanced gnosticism.
Fiat Lux
Ron Dart
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