Nature, Grace, and Secular Culture - by Christian C Irdi

Book Synopsis

The relationship between nature and grace is a key debate in Fundamental theology. The understanding of how nature and grace relate to each other is also a critically important part in comprehending the underpinnings of Western secular culture, and therefore, how best to evangelise it. This book compares John Milbank and Joseph Ratzinger, two relatively recent theologians, who have both drawn from the insights of Henri de Lubac, and have attempted to address the challenge that secular culture presents to the mission of the church. In demonstrating and comparing how each author's approach to the nature-grace couplet consequently determines their respective approach to secular culture, it is hoped that responses to the challenge of secular culture might be more comprehensively considered.

Review Quotes

"Father Irdi makes a substantial contribution to both theology and public life in offering a comparison of John Milbank and Joseph Ratzinger on the question of nature and grace. He shows how the church, by understanding the specific theological presuppositions behind secular culture and adopting a balanced, intrinsicist view of nature and grace, as well as an appropriate theology of politics, may be able to successfully challenge the secularist attempt to silence people of faith in the public square."

--Joseph R. Laracy, associate professor and chairman of systematic theology, Seton Hall University

"Irdi presents us with a concise and readable account of two correctives to the modern split of the secular from the theological order. Ratzinger prefers a personalist engagement of graced activity with a world divorced from God. Milbank envisions a church of socialist scope, whose role is to critique a society that already inhabits the world of grace. Irdi's study urges us to consider how the church engages the world."

--Peter A. Heasley, adjunct professor of Scripture, St. Joseph's Seminary

"In this new work, Father Christian Irdi engages John Milbank, Joseph Ratzinger, and their critics in a multilateral dialogue on the crucial question of secularization and its pastoral ramifications for the universal church in the modern world. Irdi's meticulous examination of his two theologians' respective approaches to the nature-grace question helps his reader navigate securely through these often stormy seas. Irdi's historical and biographical analysis, moreover, enables his reader to enflesh the theology at the heart of the debate and to recognize its vital importance for contemporary society. Nature, Grace, and Secular Culture itself serves as a model for how one ought to do theology in the twenty-first century."

--Joseph Carola, professor of theology, the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

"Father Irdi makes a substantial contribution to both theology and public life in offering a comparison of John Milbank and Joseph Ratzinger on the question of nature and grace. He shows how the church, by understanding the specific theological presuppositions behind secular culture and adopting a balanced, intrinsicist view of nature and grace, as well as an appropriate theology of politics, may be able to successfully challenge the secularist attempt to silence people of faith in the public square."
--Joseph R. Laracy, associate professor and chairman of systematic theology, Seton Hall University

"Irdi presents us with a concise and readable account of two correctives to the modern split of the secular from the theological order. Ratzinger prefers a personalist engagement of graced activity with a world divorced from God. Milbank envisions a church of socialist scope, whose role is to critique a society that already inhabits the world of grace. Irdi's study urges us to consider how the church engages the world."
--Peter A. Heasley, adjunct professor of Scripture, St. Joseph's Seminary

"In this new work, Father Christian Irdi engages John Milbank, Joseph Ratzinger, and their critics in a multilateral dialogue on the crucial question of secularization and its pastoral ramifications for the universal church in the modern world. Irdi's meticulous examination of his two theologians' respective approaches to the nature-grace question helps his reader navigate securely through these often stormy seas. Irdi's historical and biographical analysis, moreover, enables his reader to enflesh the theology at the heart of the debate and to recognize its vital importance for contemporary society. Nature, Grace, and Secular Culture itself serves as a model for how one ought to do theology in the twenty-first century."
--Joseph Carola, professor of theology, the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

About the Author

Rev. Christian C. Irdi, STD is a priest of the Archdiocese of Perth, Australia. He also lectures in theology at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, and at St. Charles' Seminary, Guildford. Fr. Christian was ordained a priest in 2014 after completing seminary training at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. He completed his STB at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Santa Croce) in Rome, and then both his STL and STD in fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Prior to seminary, he completed a bachelor's degree in law at the University of Western Australia. He is currently serving as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Scarborough, Western Australia.