Jesus of Nazareth and Catholic Legal Theory

I have just started Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI's, book "Jesus of Nazareth," which I picked of at Loome's during our meeting of the Conference of Catholic Legal Scholars last week.  The first thing I noted is that the author is Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI and not Pope Benedict XVI.  He retains his given name, I suspect, because, as he explains in the foreward:  "It goes without saying that this book is in no way an exercise of the magisterium, but is solely an expression of my personal search 'for the face of the Lord' (cf. Ps. 27:8)." In other words, Ratzinger is inviting us to consider with him, the face of Jesus as he has encountered Him.  And, so far it is a great journey.

Since God's entry into the human condition in the person of Jesus, the Son, affects all aspects of our life, it should not be surprising that the book raises questions for our Catholic Legal Theory project. 

On page 29, in the chapter on the temptations, Ratizinger says:  "God is the issue:  Is he real, reality itself, or isn't he?  Is he good, or do we have to invent the good ourselves?  The God question is the fundamental question, and it sets us down right at the crossroads of human existence."  If Ratzinger is correct, and I think he is, what are the implications for CLT?

On page 33, he quotes the martyred (by the Nazi's) German Jesuit, Alfred Delp:  "Bread is important, freedom is more important, but most important of all is unbroken fidelity and faithful adoration."  Ratzinger presses the point:  "When this ordering of goods is no longer respected, but turned on its head, the result is not justice or concern for human suffering.  The result is rather ruin and destruction even of the material goods themselves."  He continues:  "The aid offered by the West to developing countries has been purely technical and materially based, and not only has left God out of the picture, but has driven men away from God.  And, this aid, proudly claiming to 'know better,' is itself what first turned the 'third world' into what we mean today by that term."  He agains returns to the theme:  "The issue is the primacy of God.  The issue is acknolwedging that he is a reality, that he is the reality without which nothing else can be good.  History cannot be detached from God and then run smoothly on purely material lines."  If Ratzinger is correct, and I think he is, what are the implications for CLT?

On page 39, he says:  "Without heaven, earthly power is always ambiguous and fragile.  Only when power submits to the measure and the judgment of heaven - of God, in other words - can it become power fro good.  And only when power stands under God's blessing can it be trusted."  If Ratzinger is correct, and I think he is, what are the implications for CLT?

And, that is as far as I have read.