Leo Lefebure | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | November 20, 1952 |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Residence | Washington, DC |
Occupation | Priest, university professor, author |
Alma mater |
The University of Chicago St. Mary of the Lake Seminary Niles College of Loyola University Chicago |
Leo Dennis Lefebure is an American Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, university professor, and author. [1] [2] He is the inaugural Matteo Ricci S. J. Chair of Theology at Georgetown University. He is vice president of the American Theological Society, and president-elect, with his term as president beginning in 2025. [3]
Lefebure was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended Quigley South, a Catholic preparatory high school, and was managing editor of its school newspaper, the Profile. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy summa cum laude from Niles College of Loyola University. His S.T.B. ( Bachelor of Sacred Theology, 1976), S.T.L. ( Licentiate of Sacred Theology) and M.Div. (1978), all summa cum laude, were from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. In 1987 he completed his Ph.D. in Christian Theology with Distinction at The University of Chicago, Toward a Contemporary Wisdom Christology: A Study of Karl Rahner and Norman Pittenger. Later he published it as his first book.
Lefebure's early scholarship focused on Wisdom Christology (interpreting Jesus Christ in light of personified Wisdom in the Jewish tradition). He ended his first book, based on his dissertation, with suggestions on how the biblical wisdom tradition could inform interreligious relations. To explore this hypothesis in relation to Mahayana Buddhism, he published a book of meditations on the Christian scriptures in dialogue with Buddhist perspectives: Life Transformed. He also traveled to Kyoto Japan, through a junior scholars grant funded by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. Masao Abe guided him into Buddhist-Christian dialogue, which led to his 1993 book, The Buddha and the Christ. [4] He then turned to the problem of religion and violence, studying the work of René Girard and publishing Revelation, the Religions, and Violence in 2000, which won the 2001 Pax Christi USA Book Award. [5] He later wrote a Christian commentary on the wisdom sayings of the Buddha in dialogue with the biblical and later Christian wisdom traditions: The Path of Wisdom: A Christian Commentary on the Dhammapada, co-authored with Peter Feldmeier. His more recent works deal with the hermeneutics of religious classics and the history of relationships between the Catholic Church and other religions in the U.S.
He is Trustee Emeritus, Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. He served as president of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies from 2019 to 2021, and is the Society's current past president.
His fellowships, some of which are ongoing, include:
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
In each chapter Christian and Buddhist visions of life are contrasted and/or compared. Divided into three parts, the meditations progress from a cosmic vision through the search for self to the final death/resurrection of the Great Death. That is, from the wisdom tradition of each religion through the Oxherding and the Good Shepherd stories. to the loss of self and rediscovery on a deeper level, to the fuller, more authentic life. The riches to be gleaned from these meditative comparisons would "fill a book"...
He will examine the influence of religious and racial prejudice in the nineteenth century and the development of positive attitudes towards religious pluralism by significant Irish American Catholic leaders who emerged from societies dominated by these historic prejudices.
Leo Lefebure | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | November 20, 1952 |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Residence | Washington, DC |
Occupation | Priest, university professor, author |
Alma mater |
The University of Chicago St. Mary of the Lake Seminary Niles College of Loyola University Chicago |
Leo Dennis Lefebure is an American Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, university professor, and author. [1] [2] He is the inaugural Matteo Ricci S. J. Chair of Theology at Georgetown University. He is vice president of the American Theological Society, and president-elect, with his term as president beginning in 2025. [3]
Lefebure was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where he attended Quigley South, a Catholic preparatory high school, and was managing editor of its school newspaper, the Profile. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy summa cum laude from Niles College of Loyola University. His S.T.B. ( Bachelor of Sacred Theology, 1976), S.T.L. ( Licentiate of Sacred Theology) and M.Div. (1978), all summa cum laude, were from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. In 1987 he completed his Ph.D. in Christian Theology with Distinction at The University of Chicago, Toward a Contemporary Wisdom Christology: A Study of Karl Rahner and Norman Pittenger. Later he published it as his first book.
Lefebure's early scholarship focused on Wisdom Christology (interpreting Jesus Christ in light of personified Wisdom in the Jewish tradition). He ended his first book, based on his dissertation, with suggestions on how the biblical wisdom tradition could inform interreligious relations. To explore this hypothesis in relation to Mahayana Buddhism, he published a book of meditations on the Christian scriptures in dialogue with Buddhist perspectives: Life Transformed. He also traveled to Kyoto Japan, through a junior scholars grant funded by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. Masao Abe guided him into Buddhist-Christian dialogue, which led to his 1993 book, The Buddha and the Christ. [4] He then turned to the problem of religion and violence, studying the work of René Girard and publishing Revelation, the Religions, and Violence in 2000, which won the 2001 Pax Christi USA Book Award. [5] He later wrote a Christian commentary on the wisdom sayings of the Buddha in dialogue with the biblical and later Christian wisdom traditions: The Path of Wisdom: A Christian Commentary on the Dhammapada, co-authored with Peter Feldmeier. His more recent works deal with the hermeneutics of religious classics and the history of relationships between the Catholic Church and other religions in the U.S.
He is Trustee Emeritus, Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. He served as president of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies from 2019 to 2021, and is the Society's current past president.
His fellowships, some of which are ongoing, include:
{{
cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
In each chapter Christian and Buddhist visions of life are contrasted and/or compared. Divided into three parts, the meditations progress from a cosmic vision through the search for self to the final death/resurrection of the Great Death. That is, from the wisdom tradition of each religion through the Oxherding and the Good Shepherd stories. to the loss of self and rediscovery on a deeper level, to the fuller, more authentic life. The riches to be gleaned from these meditative comparisons would "fill a book"...
He will examine the influence of religious and racial prejudice in the nineteenth century and the development of positive attitudes towards religious pluralism by significant Irish American Catholic leaders who emerged from societies dominated by these historic prejudices.