Richard Leonard – författare

There are libraries of books on theodicy—the branch of philosophy and theology that wrestles with how God can allow a world to exist within which there is suffering and pain. The problem with these libraries is that they contain books that are generally written by professionals for their peers. Where the Hell Is God? combines the best of the professional’s insights with the author’s own experience and insights to speculate on how believers can make sense of their Christian faith when experiencing tragedy and suffering. Starting with a very personal story of the author's sister being left a quadriplegic from a car accident twenty years ago, Where the Hell Is God? gently leads the reader through some “take-home” messages that are sane, sound, and practical. Among these messages are: God does not directly send pain, suffering, and disease. God does not punish us; God does not send accidents to teach us things, though we can learn from them; and God does not will earthquakes, floods, droughts, or other natural disasters.This concise, accessible, and experience-based book will help people who are suffering as well as those who minister to them and their families.†

'Magical', 'out of this world', 'an experience you'll never forget': Peter Weir's films have enthralled audiences around the globe. Whether in iconic Australian works such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Gallipoli or international mainstream thrillers such as Witness, Weir has deliberately created mystical movie experiences. Modern cinema studies is used to dissecting films on the basis of gender, class or race: now, for the first time, Richard Leonard shows that a mystical gaze also exists and is exercised in the secular multiplex temples of today. The Mystical Gaze of the Cinema is a meticulous and accessible book that uses a psychoanalytic approach incorporating the insights of Jung, film theory and theology to break new ground in what continues to be a hot topic in cinema studies: the spectator - screen relationship. Leonard provides a fresh and innovative perspective on what happens when we behold a film.

Bestselling author Richard Leonard has written an accessible, engaging, and educational journey through the history, liturgy, and theology of the seven sacraments, as well as the Rite of Christian Burial, where history, liturgy, and contemporary theology intersect. The book expands the ritual and theological horizons of those who have celebrated the sacraments for their whole lives and introduces neophytes to the question of why sacraments are essential in the Christian life. In addition, it explores the endless possibilities they provide in developing our Christian lives.†

Faith Bytes is inspired by the author's YouTube videos ("North Sydney Catholics") of his homilies taken from his book Preaching to the Converted (Paulist Press). Each Sunday reflection offers a brief "faith byte" for readers to ponder for the week. They have been adapted from the larger book for a younger audience and those who have a busy schedule.

Meditations on the sources of formation in Christian approach to law, its application to contemporary living, and how our approach to the law should set us free, not bind us up. A positive contribution to the present and lively debate about the tension between Christian liberty and obedience.†

Why God? is a collection of stories and is divided into four parts: Church; Liturgy and Sacraments; Society; and Faith and Spirituality. Through these very personal and engaging stories, the author provides insights into the way God works through people and often unexpected places and events. These true stories speak of the power of God working in creation and through the unlikely individuals and places that we discover God's transforming love.Richard Leonard, SJ, is a Jesuit priest. He has degrees in arts and education, as well as a master"s degree in theology. Fr Richard did graduate studies at the London Film School and has a PhD from the University of Melbourne. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Catholic University; has been a visiting scholar within the School of Theatre, Film & Television at UCLA and a Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He directed the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for 22 years. †

Richard Leonard''s Twixtujons is a collection of entertaining and poignant anecdotes chronologically structured from the Civil Rights protests of the 1960s through the educational skirmishes of the new Millennium. Twixtujons celebrates his thirty-two happy years teaching high school students and honors the one constant for all teachers throughout the years: the timeless gift of their making teenagers feel special-and safe-in their home away from home.Adults will hear the banter of teachers and students enjoying one another, and recall their favorite classrooms. Teenagers will find a teacher''s personal thoughts about them surprising-and encouraging. Teachers will recognize themselves and their students in Leonard''s tales and appreciate his respect for a noble profession, familiar to all but understood best by those fortunate enough to teach."Best book I ever read. They should make a movie."-Trixie Laverne

Richard Leonards Snapshots in Prose is a collectors album of evocative tales about Jamie Lachlans coming of age in mid-20th-century New York when the city was the world of neighborhood movie palaces and black-and-white television, old people leaning on windowsills above and children playing on streets below, and teenagers sitting on stoops and car fenders, listening to rock and roll on transistor radios.Growing up on the East Side of Manhattan, Jamie was a daycare runaway and bullied first-grade brawler, Saturday morning movie cowboy and World War II warrior, Central Park rowboat pirate and traffic-stopping horseback riderWhen Jamie was a teenager, he was a fire-escape gymnast and condemned-building explorer, Holy Ghost slow dancer and Chubby Checker twister, redeemed classroom daydreamer and infamous catechism sinnerAnd in 1965, nineteen-year-old Jamie Lachlan went steady with eighteen-year-old Maddy Ferrara and fell in love.

100 years, the popes have spoken about women on more than 40 occasions. This book is the first study, in any language, of that teaching. From speeches to encyclicals, Richard Leonard takes the reader through 27 of the most important papal documents concerning women, including Pope John Paul's most recent statements, Mulieris dignitatem and Ordinatio sacerdotalis. Writing in an easy and accessible style, Leonard shows how the popes have had very different things to say about women, depending on whether they were issuing Catholic social teaching or reflecting on the role of Mary. Leonard exmaines why recent teaching about women has met with scepticism and hostility from women and men inside and outside the Catholic Church. He demonstrates why there is such an outstanding contrast in approach to Christian womanhood taken by the papal teaching office and that of leading Catholic feminist theologian, Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what the popes have actually said about women and why they say what they do