After sitting down to talk with Pope Benedict in January, Rabbi Jacob Neusner revealed to the press that the Pope told him that he had finished writing Vol. 2 of his Jesus of Nazareth, we wrote.
Now, Rabbi Neusner has let fall one more surprising detail about that private conversation: The Holy Father also mentioned that he won’t write anything else.
“Last January, when I met the Pope in Rome,” Neusner wrote over the weekend for Milan’s Corriere della Sera, “I asked him what he would write when he finished this book. Smiling, he replied, ‘Nothing else. This is my last book. I have other matters to attend to.’”
“A scholar who stops writing books won’t be called a scholar for long,” Neusner reflected. “Benedict XVI didn’t need to add, ‘After all, I’m the Pope.’ But the academic in me whispered, ‘At what a price!’”
HT Paolo Rodari
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But you can bet it won’t be the last book that Libreria Editrice Vaticana compiles out of his homilies and GEn Aud catechesis! He was already working on Jesus of Nazareth before he became Pope so it’s only natural that it be his culminating work ... but it’s not the end of the world ... his homilies and messages are books in themselves.
Excellent comment, Linda. I agree completely. His homilies alone since becoming pope will add volumes to his list of publications, and I can’t wait for them to be compiled.
I’m glad I bought the Illustrated edition of Jesus of Nazareth…
Even if it’s the last book he’s writing for now, not everyone has read what he has written so far. His bibliography isn’t a short one! He has something for both the intellectual and the “simple”, as few people can do.
Regardless of what is said about Benedict XVI by the media who seem to be out to pull this good man down, by whatever means they can, the day they become more objective and report things as they actually are or have been said or have happened regarding the Pope might be nothing short of a miracle! We have had great men in the chair of Peter and one only needs to sit down and read what they have written or have had to say, has been inspirational. Benedict is brilliant and it’s a pity his critics don’t take the time to read as much as they can with regards to what he has written over the years. God Bless Benendict XVI and his predessors!
Peter
“Jesus of Nazareth” is and will be a classic for many years to come. The Holy Father’s writing is both deep and acessible. I can’t wait to get volume 2.
God bless Pope Benedict XVI!
Maybe this won’t be his last book
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-asks-for-prayers-as-heads-to-castel-gandolfo-to-write-new-encyclical-book/
“the Pope has a twofold “ambitious objective” this summer: “beginning a new book on the Gospels of the infancy of Jesus and giving form to the first draft of his new encyclical, the fourth of his Pontificate.”
The encyclical, he reported, will likely be on “Faith.”
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