This work is the gold standard of intellectual biographies of Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. If students of theology were to read only one book summarising the mind of the great Church Doctor of the 20th century, it should be this book written with Fr Aidan's English grace and charm and attention to the significance of history and culture upon intellectual formation. My favourite line was: Ratzinger believed that 'the secular modernity that had parted company with the Logos ought to be psycho-analysed on a therapist's couch, not taken into the marital bed'. For those who agree with this statement, this book is pure gold.

Tracey Rowland, University of Notre Dame, Australia

This remarkable study should help make the thought of Joseph Ratzinger -- one of the most learned men of the modern era -- accessible to a wide audience, which will be enriched by the encounter.

George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Centre, USA

I very much welcome the Third Edition of Aidan Nichols's standard work in English on the life and theology of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. This new edition augments the two previous editions by incorporating the Pope's major writings that were published in the meantime together with a fuller account of Ratzinger's life. With pellucid clarity, the author provides the reader with a succinct, sympathetic (but not-uncritical) overview of what the author rightly calls “the vigour and breath of Ratzinger's thought”. It is a pleasure to read.

D. Vincent Twomey, St Patrick's Pontifical University, Ireland