Abstract

Regina Willi:
The Marian Interpretation of “Wisdom” in Joseph Ratzinger and Leo Scheffczyk
(FKTh 2013-2, p. 110–125)

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s (Pope Benedict XVI) Marian understanding of wisdom of comes to the fore throughout his whole theological work: wisdom, compared with science, seems to be the humble and disinterested openness for the whole, for the supporting foundation of the eternal, in constant restlessness and desire of the truth. Mary — through her fiat on the occasion of the Annunciation and through her whole life — has become the throne of wisdom where God’s wisdom has pitched its tent. Cardinal Scheffczyk, however, considers Mary in an analog sense as subject of divine wisdom insofar as she was full of, and steeped in, the divine wisdom of her Son. With this understanding, the believer’s thinking will effectively perceive something new from Mary, compared to her appellations as “Virgin” and “Mother”, something special concerning her person, regarding her mission for the world, and her importance for humanity.