Continuing my custom of sharing correspondence with my current and former students with visitors to the Ink Desk, here’s the reply to a student asking for advice on which three books by Ratzinger (prior to his election as pope) I would recommend for special focus:

In my own studies of Ratzinger, I have found the following to be the most helpful and brilliant:

Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, 1998

“In the Beginning …”: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall, 1990

The Ratzinger Report, 1985

The Spirit of the Liturgy, 2000

I would especially recommend The Spirit of the Liturgy for its importance in the restoration of tradition to the Church’s worship.

I would also recommend “In the Beginning” as a brilliant exposition of the Book of Genesis and its importance to our understanding of who we are as human beings.

Milestones is Ratzinger’s own memoir, containing many profound theological insights, and The Ratzinger Report illustrates Ratzinger’s brilliant understanding of the problems besetting the Church at the end of the twentieth century.