Jesus as hilastērion: The Aspect of Propitiation in St Thomas Aquinas’ Commentaries and Joseph Ratzinger’s Writings

This article aims is to explore the aspect of propitiation (hilastērion) present in St. Thomas Aquinas’ and Joseph Ratzinger’s writings and to show it against the background of the whole soteriological reflections of both theologians, as well as to emphasise the novelty of their soteriology. In the first part, the author discusses the thought of St Thomas, accentuating the systematic teaching on salvation in Summa theologie. Drawing on Aquinas’s Commentaries, the author then goes on to present Jesus as propitiation, in whose blood the mystery of redemption is accomplished. In the second part of the article, analysing Joseph Ratzinger’s writings, key soteriological terms and the biblical word hilastērion are explained. The study offers the following conclusions: the idea of propitiation (hilastērion) in Commentaries complements the whole of Thomas’ soteriology demonstrated in Summa theologiae. On the other hand, in Ratzinger’s writings the soteriological thought takes no systematic form, yet the aspect of hilastērion becomes for Joseph Ratzinger a symbol of the realisation of redemption.