The Oil Has Not Run Dry

Born to a Jewish mother and Protestant father in 1923 Berlin, Gregory Baum has devoted his career to a humanistic approach to Catholicism. In The Oil Has Not Run Dry, Baum reflects on his work with the Second Vatican Council and how it opened the Church to a new understanding of outsiders – advocating cooperation with world religions and respected secular philosophies in support of peace and justice. Embracing Latin American liberation theology, Baum became a leading thinker of the Catholic Left in Canada, adopting radical positions that initially earned support from Canadian bishops in the 1970s. Diverging from official Catholic doctrines regarding women and sexual ethics, Baum left the priesthood, but continued to teach theology and remained active in the Church. Baum discusses the contrast between Catholicism in Quebec and English-speaking North America, and the ways in which Baum sees Quebec’s culture as more marked by social solidarity.