Logos and Garden: Joseph Ratzinger—Benedict XVI on Eco-Theology

Abstract

The Logos has made a Garden. That short sentence might sum up the ‘eco-theology’ (or, as some would have it, theo-ecology) of Joseph Ratzinger—Benedict XVI. It is ripe for unpacking, by considering not only his general approach to the God–world relation (always presupposed as this is in his comments on environmental issues) but also how his theological insights into the created realm, understood as humanity’s common home (oikos), might now be taken further in the great pope’s footsteps, drawing on the doctrinal and hagiographical traditions of the Church.

Keywords

• Benedict XVI
• eco-theology
• oikos