We present a brief introduction to the political thinking of an eminent contemporary Catholic theologian, Joseph Ratzinger (1927–), the subsequent Pope Benedict XVI.
This article examines a nowadays less quoted part of Reinhold Niebuhr’s thought, which is also related to his emphasis on the sinfulness of human nature, the idea of the ‘easy conscience of man’.
Being politically modern means the hope that people are able to take their own life into their hands and be their own masters, and that the human condition can be completely understood and controlled.
