Theologians of the 20th Century

What the “Credo” proclaims, from the ecumenical councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon on, that the only-begotten Son of God became man without ceasing to be God, is also “what is most contested or obfuscated or forgotten today, inside and outside of the Church.” Which 20th Century theologians have given the most brilliant responses to this crucial problem? They are Oscar Cullmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Ioannis Zizioulas. The first two are Protestant, the third Orthodox. And yet they are among the closest to the vision of Benedict XVI. This is what you will learn by reading a book which has been published this year in Italy (La teologia del Novecento). The author is

[A] Protestant theologian, the Waldensian Fulvio Ferrario, which is striking not only for the rare clarity and richness of its exposition and its narrative efficacy, but also for the prominence given to some great theologians who are, among non-Catholics, precisely those closest to the vision and sensibility of the current pope, himself a theologian.

Go to Sandro Magister’s website to read a brief but comprehensive introduction to the book. The many “false theologians” who are crowding the stage today “to ‘humanize’ Jesus instead of preaching him as true God and true man,” says Magister, have been served.