Jun 3, 2026 · 29 min · 12 segments
The final episode of the 2026 season of Education Nation brings listeners a rich and compelling conversation with one of the most authoritative voices in the world of Catholic education: Prof. Eamonn…
Eamonn ConwayGuestNicky CuddihyHost
Yeah, so I, I did, uh, my license or the master's in Maynooth, uh, on a fairly interesting and significant question really, was how do we account for faith in people's lives who are not just non-Christians, that's important, but non-practicing Christians, those who, who are not practicing, and yet we, we need somehow to account for how God can be at work in their lives and, and justify that in the sense of explain that.
And, uh, I really needed to understand not just the language, which was important, but the whole m-Um, uh, the whole system behind the language, the whole system of thought-
Given your interest in the, uh, should we say non-Christians, we- or was Karl Rahner one of those-
The other was Hans Urs von Balthasar, who was a, I suppose a, if you like, took a different line, though not as different as people made it out to be at all actually.
That was part of my thesis, was to show the, the compatibility of a lot of what they were both saying.
Back in the 1950s, you know, he wrote about the, the Christian among unbelieving relations, and was trying to show that God's grace could be at work in their lives.
And again, that was the situation in the 1980s as I was, you know, beginning my post-grad.
That be- to my view, was a burning question and I wanted to see how I could make some sense of that.
And tell me, uh, just now, we haven't talked about this beforehand, but Karl Rahner's anonymous Christian-
Does that hold true for the 21st century Christian theologian, or where does that sit at the moment?
Well, yeah, well, look, I mean, all, all he was doing was, was what became, and he, he'd worked on it before, but became the teaching of the council, that God's grace is not denied, I mean, by the Council of Vatican II, God's grace is not denied to those who, through no fault of their own, haven't come to an explicit knowledge of, of the gospel, you know?
And I suppose I, I believe you can grow up in a, uh, in a so-called Catholic or Christian milieu, you can grow up in a society like ours, and still not necessarily come to know who Christ is, you know?
Yeah, so I, I did, uh, my license or the master's in Maynooth, uh, on a fairly interesting and significant question really, was how do we account for faith in people's lives who are not just non-Christians, that's important, but non-practicing Christians, those who, who are not practicing, and yet we, we need somehow to account for how God can be at work in their lives and, and justify that in the sense of explain that.
And, uh, I really needed to understand not just the language, which was important, but the whole m-Um, uh, the whole system behind the language, the whole system of thought-
Given your interest in the, uh, should we say non-Christians, we- or was Karl Rahner one of those-
The other was Hans Urs von Balthasar, who was a, I suppose a, if you like, took a different line, though not as different as people made it out to be at all actually.
That was part of my thesis, was to show the, the compatibility of a lot of what they were both saying.
Back in the 1950s, you know, he wrote about the, the Christian among unbelieving relations, and was trying to show that God's grace could be at work in their lives.
And again, that was the situation in the 1980s as I was, you know, beginning my post-grad.
That be- to my view, was a burning question and I wanted to see how I could make some sense of that.
And tell me, uh, just now, we haven't talked about this beforehand, but Karl Rahner's anonymous Christian-
Does that hold true for the 21st century Christian theologian, or where does that sit at the moment?
Well, yeah, well, look, I mean, all, all he was doing was, was what became, and he, he'd worked on it before, but became the teaching of the council, that God's grace is not denied, I mean, by the Council of Vatican II, God's grace is not denied to those who, through no fault of their own, haven't come to an explicit knowledge of, of the gospel, you know?
And I suppose I, I believe you can grow up in a, uh, in a so-called Catholic or Christian milieu, you can grow up in a society like ours, and still not necessarily come to know who Christ is, you know?
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