Christian Schaller (born 1967) is a German

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

theologian from Munich. In June 2013, he was co-recipient, with

Richard A. Burridge Richard Alan Burridge (born 11 June 1955) is a Church of England priest, biblical scholar and a former Dean of King's College London. Early life and education Burridge was born on 11 June 1955 to Alan Burridge and Iris Joyce Burridge (''née'' ...

, of the

Ratzinger Prize The Ratzinger Foundation, also known as The Pope Benedict XVI Foundation, is a charitable organization whose aim is "the promotion of theology in the spirit of Joseph Ratzinger." which it achieves by funding scholarships and bursaries for poorer ...

Life

Schaller was born in Munich in 1967. He studied at the faculty of theology of the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. Already during his diploma thesis (''Diplomarbeit''), he dealt with one aspect of the theology of

Joseph Ratzinger Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as po ...

, soon to be

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

: ''The Eucharistic Ecclesiology in the context of the sacramentality of the Church'' was the title of the paper presented by

Gerhard Ludwig Müller Gerhard Ludwig Müller (; born 31 December 1947) is a German Catholic prelate who served as the Cardinal-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 until 2017. Pope Francis e ...

. From 1997 to 2000, he was a research associate professor of systematic theology for future secondary school teachers at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and the Research Project known as ''Religion: the history a fundamental concept in modern Christianity from Antiquity up to the twentieth century.'' During his period as a research assistant of the chair of dogmatic theology (2000–2003) at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, he produced his doctoral thesis showing that, compared to the nineteenth century, which ecclesiological developments led to an intense ''aggiornamento'' of the Church in the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

and were included in the Constitution on the Church ''

Lumen gentium , the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. This dogmatic constitution was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 21 November 1964, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2 ...

''. In the foreground is an analysis of the concept "sacramentality of the Church" in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

and its coordinates in the history of theology as well as its systematic exposure to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From 2003 to 2012, Schaller was the theological collaborator of

, Bishop of

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

, and at the same time, since 2008, Deputy Director (vicar) of the ''Institut Papst Benedikt XVI'', which is responsible for the edition of the publication complete works of Joseph Ratzinger, the establishment of a specialized library and an archive for scientific research work of the theological ''Papa Emeritus''.

Publications

Among the publications of Schaller are his contributions ''Catholicity not lost'', ''Joseph Ratzinger and the Orthodox Churches'' and – as co-editor – the ''Ratzinger-Studien'' (since 2008) and the communications ''Mitteilingen. Institut Papst Benedikt XVI.'' (since 2008). The main topics of the work of Schaller are

Christology In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

and

ecclesiology In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership. In its early history, one of th ...

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Life

Publications

References

Further reading