Many contexts have shaped Benedict XVI during his life, but how did Joseph Ratzinger come to be such a great theologian with his polemical bent and his keen eye for where the Gospel and the world diverge? Joseph Ratzinger's Theological Ideas attempts to answer this question, tracing his development from the small Bavarian boy born on Easter Saturday 1927 to the priest, professor, pastor, Prefect, and finally Pope. The book explores tensions experienced by Joseph Ratzinger in his earlier life that have been important in shaping his chosen theological direction, as well as tensions that proceed from the ecumenical context of German theologizing to the relationship between academic freedom and Church authority. While providing great insight into how this particular theologian, now Pope Benedict XVI, emerged, Joseph Ratzinger's Theological Ideas also sheds light on this man's theological work as a whole.