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unfortunately, Juan Coles hasn't gotten my comment up yet, and I did not make a copy...

But basically all the things Cole quotes are summaries made by Ratzinger of positions of other people. "The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes", "According to the experts".

he uses "us" (as we, including himself) only to mark his critizism of the brusque words he quotes and "I" only when he draws his own conclusion about what he speaks about. And what is that: "I believe that here we can see the profound harmony between what is Greek in the best sense of the word and the biblical understanding of faith in God."
Where does this give a personal criticism of Islam, especially if the line of thought then only deals with the relationship of Hellenism and Christianity?

Two more things. The whole speech has also to been seen in the context of the ongoing discussion in Germany, namely the place of Theology in the University. There are many voices, both on the secular and on the christian front, that do not want Theology being tought inside a "scientific" institute. The Pope is very much in favour. He does not want to go back before modernity. He seeks the (intellectual) confrontation with the scientific community.

by PeWi on Fri Sep 15th, 2006 at 05:30:29 AM EST
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