Saved in Hope: Spe Salvi
by Pope Benedict XVI
List Price:
Our Price: $8.90
You Save: $6.05 (40%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $8.61 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Pope Benedict XVIEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-02
ISBN: 1586172514
Number of pages: 100
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Book Reviews of Saved in Hope: Spe Salvi
Book Review: "God is the foundation of hope"
Summary: 5 Stars
So says Benedict XVI in Spe Salvi (paragraph 31), his second encyclical, and the entire elegant and closely reasoned essay is an argument in defense of the claim. As is typical of papal encyclicals, references in Spe Salvi tend to focus on scripture, the patristic fathers, and a handful of medieval theologians. But it also strikes me that Benedict's reflections on hope are informed as well by the 20th century's greatest Roman Catholic theologian, Karl Rahner, although Rahner is never explicitly referenced.
It's no accident, Benedict argues, that in early drawings Christ was often depicted as a philosopher. Philosophy in the early centuries of the Christian era wasn't an academic discipline so much as a search for the proper way to live. Early Christians saw Jesus as offering the best way, one that made sense of the present by looking to the future. The good news brought by Christ, writes Benedict, was thus not only informative. It was also performative: that is, it provided an incentive and purpose for a particular lifestyle.
Faith, argues Benedict, is a "reaching out towards things that are still absent," but it also "gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a 'proof' of the things that are still unseen" (paragraph 7). This is the basis of the hope offered by Christ: that the future, although it can't be known, is nonetheless laden with promise, and that the awareness of this affects the way in which we live in the present. Hope, then, based on faith, isn't merely a yearning for the future; it's a present mode of living that's informed by hope in a positive future (shades of Rahner here).
This hope needs something infinite to ground it, to make it genuinely worthy of hope, and that infinite something is, of course, God (again, this is reminiscent of Rahner). The hope, furthermore, must be both personal and collective: that is, hope, like faith must be that which sustains the individual and binds together the community. In showing how this double movement is possible, Benedict does an especially fine job of arguing against private models of hope (such as those endorsed by some evangelicals) on the one hand and collectivist models (such as those endorsed by secular utopians) on the other (paragraphs 13-23). In the process, he also shows that Christian hope is compatible with human freedom, which always makes the future contingent, and human suffering, which is always voluntarily shared by God (paragraphs 24-31, 35-39).
This is Benedict at his finest: holding contraries in a creative tension, rather than rejecting one for the sake of the other to achieve logical neatness at the expense of theological depth. The personal and the communal, the present and the future, uncertainty and hope: these, the antipodes of human existence, are also the compass points Benedict wisely uses to help us better understand the manner of living taught by Jesus the philosopher.
Summary of Saved in Hope: Spe Salvi
Pope Benedict XVI's second encyclical, Saved In Hope, ("Spe Salvi" in Latin) takes its title from St. Paul, who wrote, "In hope we have been saved". In this special deluxe hardcover edition of the work, the Holy Father continues a line of thought he began with his first encyclical, God is Love.Love and Hope are closely related in the spiritual life. Love of God involves hope or trust in God. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man". Hope enables us to look to the next life, but it also inspires and purifies our actions in this life. Pope Benedict considers modern philosophies and the challenges of faith today in light of the virtue of hope.
"Confronted by today's changing and complex panorama, the virtue of hope is subject to harsh trials in the community of believers. For this very reason, we must be apostles who are filled with hope and joyful trust in God's promises. In contemporary society, which shows such visible signs of secularism, we must not give in to despair."
-- Pope Benedict XVI
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Favorite Pope Benedict XVI books
A New Song for the Lord: Faith in Christ and Liturgy Todayby Pope Benedict XVI
The Crossroad Publishing Company; Published: 1996-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
Images of Hope: Meditations on Major Feastsby Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Ignatius Press; Published: 2006-10-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.89
Price in other shops:
Without Roots: Europe, Relativism, Christianity, Islamby Joseph Ratzinger, Marcello Pera
Basic Books; Published: 2007-01-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
Called to Communion: Understanding the Church Todayby Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Ignatius Press; Published: 1996-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops:
God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Lifeby Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Stephan Otto Horn, Vinzenz Pfnur
Ignatius Press; Published: 2003-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.85
Price in other shops:
Eschatology: Death and Eternal Lifeby Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Catholic University of America Press; Published: 2007-10-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.46
Price in other shops:
The Spirit of the Liturgyby Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI
Ignatius Press; Published: 2000-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.43
Price in other shops:
Introduction To Christianity (Communio Books)by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, Benedict
Ignatius Press; Published: 2004-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.47
Price in other shops:
God Is Love: Deus Caritas Estby Pope Benedict XVI
Ignatius Press; Published: 2006-05-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.37
Price in other shops:
Christianity and the Crisis of Culturesby Pope Benedict XVI
Ignatius Press; Published: 2006-02-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Lightby Mother Teresa, Brian Kolodiejchuk
Doubleday; Published: 2007-09-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.80
Price in other shops:
Joseph and Chico: The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told By a Catby Jeanne Perego
Ignatius Press; Published: 2008-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.40
Price in other shops:
God Is Love (Deus Caritas Est) (Benedict XVI)by Pope Benedict XVI
USCCB Publisher; Published: 2006-02-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops:
Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church: General Audiences, 15 March 2006-14 February 2007by Pope Benedict XVI
Ignatius Press; Published: 2007-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.03
Price in other shops:
God's Word: Scripture - Tradition - Officeby Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Ignatius Press; Published: 2008-03-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.87
Price in other shops:
The God of Jesus Christ: Meditations on the Triune Godby Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict
Ignatius Press; Published: 2008-03-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops:
Questions and Answersby Pope Benedict XVI
Our Sunday Visitor; Published: 2008-02-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
The Apostlesby Pope Benedict XVI
Our Sunday Visitor; Published: 2007-07-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.01
Price in other shops:
Jesus of Nazarethby Pope Benedict XVI
Doubleday; Published: 2007-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.05
Price in other shops:
God Is Love: Deus Caritas Estby Pope Benedict XVI
Ignatius Press; Published: 2006-05-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.93
Price in other shops: