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The available literature on the new evangelization is wide-ranging and focused on issues of ecclesial renewal. In The Truth Will Make You Free, Fr. Robert Leavitt adopts a different approach to the subject. From Paul VI until Pope Francis, the nature and challenges of modern secularism have become a recurring factor in the agenda of the new evangelization, yet often without historical perspective and philosophical balance. Few popular works bother to examine in such depth and scope, as this book does, what the history, nature, and implications of the secular age are for revitalizing ministry in an age of optional belief. Written for the interested layperson, seminarian, theology student, and pastor, The Truth Will Make You Free is an indispensable catechism for rethinking our understanding of the secular world in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.
Robert F. Leavitt, PSS, is a priest of the Society of St. Sulpice and of the Archdiocese of Hartford. From 1980 to 2007, he served as president-rector of St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. Currently, he is the France-Merrick University Professor of Theology at St. Mary’s.
“Robert Leavitt provides an in-depth presentation of the Catholic church’s `missionary discipleship’ by challenging its oft-stated rejection of the so-called secular world. Tracing major turning points in the history of Christian and cultural development, accompanied by analysis of philosophical traditions that recognize the healthy importance of `options,’ he suggests that our secular age is a sign of the times. As such, it can be a vehicle, not an obstacle, to the `new evangelization,’ the proclamation of the Gospel. Leavitt has given his contemporary Catholic readers every reason for joyful passion (thymos). This timely book shows us how this might be achieved.”
Francis J. Moloney, SDB,
Catholic Theological College, University of Divinity, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
