A Generative Thought: An Introduction to the Works of Luigi Giussani

Luigi Giussani, born in 1922, is one of the most influential thinkers and leaders in the Catholic world today. He is the founder of the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation, now present in more than seventy countries worldwide, with a membership well in excess of 100,000. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have come into contact with him through the charitable, cultural, and social works of his movement and through his writings. An Introduction to the Thought of Luigi Giussani presents Giussani's works to the English-speaking world through the multiple perspectives of thinkers with different backgrounds and intellectual motivations, showing the lively dialogue evoked by their encounter with his "generative thought" and inviting deeper engagement by readers.

The various contributors make clear the relevance of Giussani's thought to the North American and Western cultural and religious context. They point to an important element in all of Giussani's work - his proposal that the Christian Event is the answer to the deepest and most pressing questions in today's world. With his clear and vigorous awareness of the cultural, philosophical, and theological issues central to the contemporary debate, Giussani succeeds in making the truth of the Catholic tradition both reasonable and relevant. Contributors include Lorenzo Albacete (Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico), Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires), Remi Brague (Université La Sorbonne, Paris), Carlo Caffarra (Archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio), Ralph Del Colle (Marquette University), Ravan Farhâdi (United Nations), Giorgio Feliciani (Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan), Neil Gillman (Jewish Theological Seminary, NY), David J. Horowitz (DHMA Inc, NY), Rodney Howsare (DeSales University), Nikolaus Lobkowicz (Catholic University of Eichstätt), Gilbert C. Meilaender (Valparaiso University, Chile), John O’Connor (Cardinal Archbishop of New York), Marc Ouellet (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity),Javier Prades (Theological Faculty, San Damaso, Madrid), David L. Schindler (John Paul II Institute, Washington, DC), Angelo Scola (Pontifical Lateran University, Rome), J. Francis Stafford (Pontifical Council for the Laity), Shingen Takagi (Koyasan University, Japan), and Michale Waldstein (Internationales Theologisches Institut für Studien zu Ehe und Familie, Gaming, Austria).