Annotation
We will read and interpret together the book Eschatology by Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. The book was published as part of the Small Catholic Dogmatics, but it is not a standard textbook that evenly covers all traditional eschatological topics.
In particular, the author's focus is on special issues of individual eschatology related to death and immortality. Ratzinger's book is, among other things, a (Catholic) response to the (Protestant) critique of the idea of the immortal soul and at the same time an attempt to rehabilitate it.
However, Ratzinger is not simply an opponent of the Protestant tradition and he himself admits that he was also inspired in his thinking in many ways by Luther's theology. As we read the book, we will note the author's theological emphases, placing them in the whole of his thought and in the context of the major transformations of eschatology in the last century.