Peter Casarella, professor of theology at Duke Divinity School, has co-edited a new book with Thomas Masters, editor at large at New City Press. Chiara Lubich: Essential Teachings on Unity, speaks to a new generation of believers who are upset with both the hypocrisies that too often undermine rigid fundamentalisms and the vapid spiritualities, both light and dark, that arise with expanding influence on and offline. 

Chiara Lubich (1920-2008), founder of the Focolare Movement, an international movement for unity and renewal, contributed a life, a movement, and a rich set of spiritual writings to the church and the world. This volume gathers excerpts from the writings that focus on the historical origins and contemporary meaning of her spirituality of communion.

New seekers of wisdom, whether they are home-schooling moms focused on providing solid food to their children or Gen Zers trying to locate the escape hatch from the hyperdigitalization of life, will be enlightened by these short and practical excerpts. The selected material, new and old, offers guidance for daily life. These excerpts can help to get individuals and groups to move beyond the hurtful polarizations of the culture wars while being centered on the living truths of Christian and Catholic faith.

Casarella’s primary field of study is systematic theology followed by world religions and world church. He was appointed to the faculty of Duke Divinity School in 2020. Formerly, he was an associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame from 2013-2020 and served as director of the Latin American North American Church Concerns (LANACC) project in the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.