by Carlo Trejo Dryer
The seminar consists of a guided reading of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s Einführung in das Christentum, under the direction of Professor Blanco Sarto of the University of Navarra. Its structure is deliberately simple: participants read in advance the chapters assigned for each meeting and then come together to raise questions, make comments, and discuss the text.
Professor Blanco Sarto guides the discussion, clarifying the meaning and theological context of the text, drawing particularly on his extensive knowledge of Ratzinger’s theology. In this sense, the seminar occupies a middle ground between a traditional magisterial class, in which the professor principally transmits knowledge, and the more participatory model associated with the Bologna Process, in which students are expected to engage actively with the material. The seminar is aimed broadly at students and professors rather than exclusively at students of theology or philosophy. Many of those interested are students who wish to understand their faith at a more academic and intellectually rigorous level. At the same time, participation is not restricted according to religious belief. The majority of participants are Catholic, but the seminar is open to people with different religious or non-religious backgrounds. This creates a broad audience and, in a certain sense, recalls the context in which Ratzinger himself taught at Tübingen, where theological questions were addressed in dialogue with a wider intellectual and cultural environment. The seminar’s principal dialogue is therefore not only with the Catholic theological tradition, but also with modern society and contemporary thought. The seminar began approximately two months ago, at the beginning of the 2026–27 academic year, and is scheduled to continue until May 2027. It takes place once a month, on the first Monday of the month, at 12:30 in Aula 10 of the Faculty of Theology. If the experience proves successful, there is the possibility of continuing the initiative in subsequent academic years, potentially with a more clearly established structure from the outset. One of the most interesting aspects of the seminar is the character of the discussion itself. Participants bring their own ideas and reasons to the conversation, allowing the group to engage directly with Ratzinger’s theological thought rather than simply receiving an exposition of it. The discussion can therefore move between close attention to the text and broader questions concerning faith, reason, and the intellectual foundations of Christianity.
The fact that the subject concerns faith also makes the seminar accessible to people who may not normally participate in theological or philosophical discussions: participants do not need to have a specialised background in order to benefit from engaging seriously with the questions raised by the book. This openness also distinguishes the seminar from a permanent or specialised research seminar. There are no closed doors, and participation does not depend on belonging to a particular academic discipline or research community. The seminar is instead an opportunity for a diverse group of people to encounter a major theological text through sustained and guided reading. An important point of reflection is that many people who initially show interest may expect something closer to catechesis. In fact, the seminar has a different purpose. It is a guided academic reading of Einführung in das Christentum, one of the most significant theological works of the twentieth century and arguably the work in which Ratzinger comes closest to presenting a comprehensive account of dogmatic theology. The book examines the central articles of Christian faith expressed in the Creed prayed in the liturgy, but does so by confronting them with the intellectual questions of modernity. This makes the seminar particularly interesting: it provides a space in which beliefs that may ordinarily be expressed liturgically or personally can instead be examined through theological argument, philosophical reflection, and reasoned discussion. In this sense, the seminar can be understood as an exercise in fides quaerens intellectum—faith seeking understanding. Its value lies not simply in learning about Ratzinger, but in creating a space where questions of faith can be approached intellectually and openly, with participants engaging the text, one another, and the wider intellectual questions raised by Christianity in contemporary society.
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