Gregory Baum

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Gregory Baum (born 1923) is a Canadian Roman Catholic theologian.

Born in Berlin, Germany, he came to Canada from England in 1940. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and physics in 1946 from McMaster University, a Master of Arts degree in mathematics in 1947 from Ohio State University, and a Th.D. in 1956 from the University of Fribourg.

He was the Professor of theology and sociology at University of Saint Michael's College in the University of Toronto and subsequently professor of theological ethics at McGill University's Faculty of Religious Studies. He is currently associated with the Jesuit Centre justice et foi in Montreal.

During the church council Vatican II he was a peritus, or theological advisor, at the Ecumenical Secretariat, the commission responsible for three conciliar documents, On Religious Liberty, On Ecumenism, and On the Church's Relation to Non-Christian Religions. From 1962 to 2004, he was the editor of The Ecumenist, a review of theology, culture and society, as well as a member and frequent editor of the international Catholic review Concilium.

His books include:

That They May Be One, Newman Press, 1958.
The Credibility of the Church Today, Herder & Herder, 1968.
Man Becoming, Herder & Herder, 1970.
Religion and Alienation, Paulist Press, 1975.
Truth Beyond Relativity: Karl Mannheim's Sociology of Knowledge, The Marquette Lecture, Marquette University Press, 1977.
The Priority of Labour: Commentary on John Paul II’s `Laborem exercens,’ Paulist Press, 1982.
Theology and Society, Paulist Press, 1986.
Solidarity and Compassion: The Church for Others (The 1987 CBC Massey Lectures), Anansi Press, 1988.
The Church in Quebec, Novalis, 1992.
Karl Polanyi on Ethics and Economics, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1996.
Nationalism, Religion and Ethics, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001.

A second edition of his seminal 1975 book, Religion and Alienation was republished by Novalis in 2006.

He hold honorary doctorates from Huron University College, London, Ontario; St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, N.S; Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio; Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.; Waterloo Lutheran University, Waterloo, Ontario; McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario; Concordia University, Montreal.

In 1990, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of being "a guide and inspiration to generations of students of many different faiths and backgrounds". ^[1]

He was formerly a priest, but has now been laicized.