Word on Fire hosted its fourth annual New Ressourcement Conference from November 4–6, 2026. The theme was “Joseph Ratzinger and His Sources,” in honor of the upcoming centenary of Ratzinger’s birth (April 16, 2027). Scholars were invited to share papers reflecting on the minds and texts that shaped Ratzinger’s writing.
“Joseph Ratzinger’s theology grew out of a lifetime of reading: Scripture and the liturgy, Augustine and Bonaventure, and the friends, teachers, and opponents he engaged along the way. This year’s conference brought scholars together to study those sources and to ask what they still offer the Church,” said Dr. Jason Paone, director of Word on Fire Academic. “With the centenary of his birth approaching and the inaugural volume of his Collected Works now available in English, this is a good moment to read Ratzinger the way he read the tradition, by going back to the sources.”
The conference included several keynote speakers:
- Bishop Robert Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester: “The Necessity of a Metaphysics of Logos in the Determination of Justice: An Examination of the Ratzinger-Habermas Debate.”
- Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame Australia: “Gottlieb Söhngen: Champion of the Analogia Fidei and its Critical Concepts.”
- Cyril O’Regan, University of Notre Dame: “Benedict’s Sources: Imitation, Emulation, Figuration.”
The eight plenary speakers were Jennifer N. Martin (University of Notre Dame), Christopher Ruddy (Catholic University of America), Fr. Aaron Pidel (Pontifical Gregorian University), Fr. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai (Angelicum), Nina Heereman (St. Patrick’s Seminary and University), Fr. Emery de Gaál (University of Saint Mary of the Lake), Pietro Luca Azzaro (Fondazione Ratzinger), and Alejandro Sada (Universidad Panamericana).
Throughout the conference, more than forty additional papers were shared during concurrent sessions on Scripture, liturgy and the sacraments, the Church Fathers, Bonaventure, philosophy, and Protestant theology.
Select essays will be published in the Fall 2027 special issue of The New Ressourcement journal, guest-edited by Tracey Rowland and Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai.
The conference opened two days after Word on Fire Academic launched Jesus of Nazareth, the inaugural volume of the Joseph Ratzinger: Collected Works, the English edition of his non-magisterial writings.
The fifth annual New Ressourcement Conference will take place from November 16–19, 2027, at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. The theme will be announced in the coming months.