The annual award of The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation shared by Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz and Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger. Pope Francis will present the award to the two recipients in a ceremony held at the Vatican on November 13.
The Ratzinger Prize was launched in 2011 to recognize scholars whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to theology in the spirit of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Bavarian theologian who became Benedict XVI.
Gerl-Falkovitz, 76, is a specialist on the German philosopher Edith Stein also known by her religious name, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and the prominent intellectual Servant of God Romano Guardini. She has also edited books of the complete works of both 20th-century Catholic figures. She was a professor of philosophy of Religions and Comparative Religious Sciences at the University of Dresden from 1993 to 2011. She secured a Doctoral Degree in 1971. Now she leads the European Institute of Philosophy and Religion at the Pope Benedict XVI Philosophical-Theological University in Austria.
Schwienhorst-Schönberger, 64, studied Theology and Holy Scripture in Münster, Germany, and Jerusalem, Israel, and is considered one of the foremost veterans on the Sapiential books in the Bible, especially the Song of Songs.
He taught exegesis of the Old Testament and Hebrew language at the University of Passau in Germany from 1993 to 2007, and is now a professor of the Old Testament at the University of Vienna.