Studia Koszalińsko-Kołobrzeskie

As a pastor, Ratzinger emphasised the necessity of a Christological-pneumatological reading of the Holy Scriptures. He considered the transition from the letter to the spirit of biblical texts to be decisive and pointed out that biblical meaning should be derived with regard to the internal dynamics of the Bible, whose unity is given by Christ. This article examines the legacy of Ratzinger the theologian in terms of seeking a deeper justification and characterisation of the Christological-pneumatological principle in biblical hermeneutics. The author of the article draws on lesser-known publications by the Bavarian theologian, which allow for a theological explanation of Ratzinger's stance as a pastor. Attention is paid to Ratzinger's understanding of the “unity in diversity” of the Christian canon, his understanding of the complex relationship between the Old and New Testaments, and the essence of the spiritual reading of the Old Testament books (“spiritualisation” of the Old Testament, but according to the incarnational paradigm) is discussed. Ratzinger opposed the direct Christological interpretation of the Old Testament, deriving spiritual sense from the literal sense and understanding it as another dimension of the one word. Instead of the traditional allegorical sense, he preferred to speak of a Christological-pneumatological interpretation as the one better expressing the character of the transition from the Old to the New Covenant. This kind of reading is not available in case of the historical-critical method.