Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam

Can a civilization exist without any sense of the sacred? That is the question at the heart of Without Roots, which was born of a dialogue between Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and Marcello Pera, president of the Italian Senate. On May 13, 2004, Cardinal Ratzinger addressed the Italian senate on the state of the West. The day before, Marcello Pera gave a lecture at the Lateran Pontifical University. Though the juxtaposition of the talks was pure chance, the two leaders arrived at strikingly similar conclusions about the spiritual, cultural, and political crisis facing the West. Bringing together their unique vantage points as leaders of Church and State, Ratzinger and Pera challenge us to examine anew the fate of a civilization that has abandoned its spiritual roots. The question is urgent not only for the United States and Europe but for all democratic cultures. Author: Pope Benedict XVI, Marcello PeraPublisher: Ignatius PressPages: 160 pages, hardcoverISBN: 0-46500-634-5