ABSTRACT

The Experience of Salvific Energy

Karen Courtland Kelly

The focus of this thesis is the re-emergence of eschatology, one that speaks to modernity, specifically with the notion of salvific energy. Chapters One and Two unpack Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, a book published in English in 1988 and originally written in German in 1977 by Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. Chapter Three examines the two key themes of death and eternal life explicitly expressed within Benedict’s book. The remainder of Chapter Three explores the notion of salvific energy, as that notion seems to express itself as an experience and a three-fold carrier of meaning. Benedict alludes to the notion of salvific energy as an experience and uses the dynamics of shelter, support and communication.

This thesis draws heavily upon the Catechism of the Catholic Church to better understand Benedict’s theological position. The goal is to highlight the valuable field of eschatology and why it continues to be important in people’s lives. Eschatology fully encapsulates the dynamic human condition and this thesis hopes to communicate the urgent need for eschatology’s re-emergence combined with the emergence of salvific energy. Benedict’s experience can renew the field of eschatology with his knowledge of salvific energy. His insights stress the important dynamism in the field of eschatology for modernity and its practical and functional use within the complex dynamic of everyday life.