Roger Charles Lenaers entered the Society of Jesus

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 in 1942 and followed the regular courses at the Jesuit School of Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and Theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 and classical languages at a university.

Since 1995 he is parish priest in Vorder- and Hinterhornbach (Lechtal, Tyrol

Tyrol (state)

Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

). As a classicist he specialized in the didactics

Didactics

A didactic method is a teaching method that follows a consistent scientific approach or educational style to engage the student’s mind.The didactic method of instruction is often contrasted with dialectics and the Socratic method; the term can also be used to refer to a specific didactic method,...

 of the Old Languages (around 30 publications, each with commentaries for teachers.) As theologian he taught religion in schools for secondary education and in schools training future religion mistresses. His special interest went out to questions about faith emerging from modernity

Modernity

Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...

 and secularization

Secularization

Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...

, modernity understood as western ideology or weltanschauung, emerging during the Enlightenment, as consequence of modern sciences and the humanism thriving during the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

.

In 2000 and 2002 he published two rather extended essays about the clash between modernity and modern religious convictions. By reinterpreting the essence he tried to reconcile the theological message with modernity. The two booklets got a remarkably clear response in Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

. In 2005 the two essays came out as one book, first in German, in 2006 in English. There-upon Spanish and Portuguese translations followed. An Italian translation is ready for the press. In 2008 the linguistically corrected second German edition followed and in April 2009 a second book will be published with the provocative title “Even without a God-in-the-highest”.

Publications

• De Droom van Nebukadnezar. Of het einde van een middeleeuwse kerk. 160 blz., Berg en Dal/Leuven, 2000
• Uittocht uit oudchristelijke mythen. Berg en Dal/Leuven, 2002
• Der Traum des Königs Nebukadnezar. Das Ende einer mittelalterlichen Kirche. copy-us Verlags GmbH, Kleve 2005, ISBN 3-935861-15-X.
  English translation: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream or the End of a Medieval Catholic Church, Gorgias Press, Piscataway, NJ, U.S.A. 2007. Spanish: Altro Cristianismo es posible, Fe en lenguaje de modernidad, Editorial Abya Yala, Quito, 2008, 244 S. Portuguese: Altro Cristianismo es posible. Paulus Editora, São Paulo. Italian: Il sogno di Nabucodonosor. Fine della chiesa cattolica medievale.
• Der Traum des Königs Nebukadnezar. Das Ende einer mittelalterlichen Kirche. Vortrag, 12 Seiten in German. Wien 2008
• Das Papsttum als Stein des Anstoßes – was können wir tun? Vortrag, 18 Seiten in German Linz 2009