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Cyril O'Regan, an Irish theologian and professor at the University of Notre Dame, has been awarded the 2024 Ratzinger Prize, often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of Theology." The award was announced by the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation on September 18. O'Regan shares this honor with Etsuroo Sotoo, a Japanese sculptor.
In an interview with Catholic News Service on November 21, O'Regan discussed how the late Pope Benedict XVI influenced his own work by engaging in dialogue between Catholic theology and modern philosophy. He noted that no other theologian has engaged with modernity as deeply as Benedict.
O'Regan's academic focus is analyzing modern philosophy through a Catholic perspective. He aims to discern what can be assimilated into Catholic thought and what cannot. He explained that Father Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, sought to mediate between philosophy and theology similarly to early Christian theologians' engagement with Platonism and Neo-Platonism.
According to O'Regan, Ratzinger uplifted "maximalist negotiation" as quintessentially Catholic. This approach involves neither rejecting modern ideas outright nor accepting them uncritically due to their intellectual prestige. Instead, it requires careful cultural negotiation.
Ratzinger's theological legacy emphasizes "faith and reason," both crucial for future Catholic theology development. O'Regan warned against fideism—the belief that faith is independent of reason—which he described as contrary to Catholic tradition.
O'Regan's research includes studies on Hegel, modern Gnosticism, apocalyptic theology, Father Hans Urs von Balthasar, St. John Henry Newman, and Cardinal Ratzinger. He finds value in Hegel's philosophy of aesthetics for its insights into art's role in conveying truth.
He expressed hope that Joseph Ratzinger's legacy would extend beyond countering modern ideas about humanity to engaging with them to elevate Catholic teaching.
"It's not simply 'This is what I think the church is,'" O'Regan said of Ratzinger’s approach. "He's suggesting that Christianity forms a subject far more worthy than modernity."
