Joseph Ratzinger a.k.a. Pope Benedict

His admirers called him a "brilliant theologian".

What is a "brilliant theologian"?

@fmf said
What is a "brilliant theologian"?

Does every one of Christianity's approximately 40,000 denominations have at least one "brilliant theologian" responsible for its differentiation from the others?

You are a childish man who mocks the dead, the veneration of the dead, and the religious beliefs of other people.

Why don't you go after Narendra Modi and advise him that the highest aspirations of Hinduism would fully support, welcome, and include the approximately two million Muslim citizens of present-day India -- from your jacked-up little game chair in Indonesia?

Hmm?

What's holding you back?

@fmf said
His admirers called him a "brilliant theologian".

What is a "brilliant theologian"?

He held the post formerly called “Grand Inquisitor.” The man charged with rooting out heresy. “God’s Rottweiler.” He also knew sexual abuse was going on and did nothing to stop it or prosecute the perpetrators. A dastardly man. Good riddance.

A brilliant theologian would be one who made God’s continuing revelation understandable to man. Don’t think he accomplished that.

@moonbus said
He held the post formerly called “Grand Inquisitor.” The man charged with rooting out heresy. “God’s Rottweiler.” He also knew sexual abuse was going on and did nothing to stop it or prosecute the perpetrators. A dastardly man. Good riddance.

Yes, all this is well-known. Less clear is the answer to the question: "What is a "brilliant theologian"?

@moonbus said
A brilliant theologian would be one who made God’s continuing revelation understandable to man. Don’t think he accomplished that.

Brilliant people in academic fields don't necessarily make their area of expertise more "understandable to man". I am not talking about a "brilliant communicator".

@fmf said
His admirers called him a "brilliant theologian".

What is a "brilliant theologian"?

By RHP standards, was sonship a "brilliant theologian"?

@moonbus said
He held the post formerly called “Grand Inquisitor.” The man charged with rooting out heresy. “God’s Rottweiler.” He also knew sexual abuse was going on and did nothing to stop it or prosecute the perpetrators. A dastardly man. Good riddance.

A brilliant theologian would be one who made God’s continuing revelation understandable to man. Don’t think he accomplished that.

Well, there's that.

@fmf said
By RHP standards, was sonship a "brilliant theologian"?

Would you say your friend @divegeester is a brilliant marine scatologist?

@fmf said
By RHP standards, was sonship a "brilliant theologian"?

He was neither.

@fmf said
Brilliant people in academic fields don't necessarily make their area of expertise more "understandable to man". I am not talking about a "brilliant communicator".

Well then, what is it you think God’s ministers on Earth should be doing, if not communicating God’s will for man TO man??

@moonbus said
Well then, what is it you think God’s ministers on Earth should be doing, if not communicating God’s will for man TO man??

Being a theologian and being a minister are not synonymous.

@fmf said
Being a theologian and being a minister are not synonymous.

Theologians interpret the Word of God to man, pastors render pastoral care. Both consider themselves to be God's ministers on Earth.

@moonbus said
Theologians interpret the Word of God to man, pastors render pastoral care. Both consider themselves to be God's ministers on Earth.

One can be a theologian without believing in God. So, while a "minister" must have some grasp of theology, one can certainly be an expert in theology - regarding a faith different from one's own, even - without being a "minister".

@fmf said
By RHP standards, was sonship a "brilliant theologian"?

@moonbus said
He was neither.

Theology was certainly his hobby and he spent many hours preparing and propagating his theological stances ~ and defending them indefatigably, too ~ with highly detailed and resilient textual exegesis.

Whether he was right or wrong in his analysis is neither here nor there.

"By RHP standards", he most certainly was a self-styled "theologian".