Featured Authors for August 2019: Leonardo Boff & Father Anselm Grün

Leonardo Boff is a Brazilian theologian and philosopher, and professor emeritus of ethics, philosophy of religion, and ecology at Rio de Janeiro State University. Boff became well-known for his role in developing the Theology of Liberation, publishing influential works on Christology, Ecclesiology, and other themes. In 2001 he was honored with the “Right Livelihood Award,” sometimes called the “alternative Nobel prize,” in Stockholm, Sweden.

His many books include Jesus Christ Liberator; Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor; and Following Jesus. He writes: “When people ask me: ‘What are you doing in life?’ I answer: ‘I am a worker like any other, like a carpenter or an electrician. Only my instruments are very subtle: only 26 letters.’ And what do you try to do with so many letters? I respond: ‘I just try to think, in tune, with the greatest concerns of human beings in the light of God; to arouse in them a confidence in the hidden potentialities within themselves to find solutions.”

Father Anselm Grün is a Benedictine monk at Münsterschwarzach Abbey in Germany, and one of the most widely-read Christian authors today. He has written over 380 books, which have been translated into 34 languages, and have sold 17 million copies to date.

In his more than 200 courses and lectures per year throughout Germany and abroad, Fr Grün addresses the needs and questions of ordinary people. He is keenly engaged with what really moves and motivates people in our day and age. Living spirituality in everyday life, finding the right balance between one’s work and private life, being mindful of creation, but also dealing with oneself are all important topics in his writing and lectures. In 2018 Pope Francis’ recommended reading for priests included Fr. Grün’s Midlife as a Spiritual Challenge.