Wonderful teaching on Catholic understanding of Gen 1-2

I found this book, which contains homilies by then Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), an excellent teaching on the Roman Catholic Church's interpretation of the first two chapters of Genesis. Cardinal Ratzinger writes exceptionally clearly on complex issues and his arguments are truly a delight to follow. This book is an excellent antidote to Catholics who think the Church takes Genesis 1-2 literally as do Evangelical Christians. Cardinal Ratzinger explains well the concepts of salvation history and that science and Christian belief are truly not in conflict. I found this very orthodox teaching a wonderful reminder. This book is an excellent source for anyone who wants to understand the Catholic Church's teaching on the Genesis creation stories and the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

An Timely, Important Set of Reflections

No time could be better than now for this text to be read by Americans. Catholics stand between adamant fundamentalists and extreme atheistic evolutionists. This text is something I have desired to see for a long time. It is often difficult to show atheists that Catholics are not opposed to evolution and still show fundamentalists that we are not atheistic. I believe that reading this text and also sharing it can indeed help with dialog along these lines. Ratzinger presents insights about the true importance of belief in being created, a message that can help change the view of the world for many. Additionally, he exquisitely discusses the nature of sin in mankind, giving a brief, yet profound depth to a subject which is so often avoided in modernity.^M

A thought-provoking account of creation and the fall, but thin in places

In this remarkable collection of homilies given during Lent 1981, while he was still Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger explores creation as a central piece of Christian doctrine. His reading of the creation story sees belief in creation as reasonable, over against a scientism that sees God as irrelevant or simply a prime mover of the evolutionary process, and then explores deeply the questions of anthropology that inevitably arise from the story of the fall.^M