Lenoir, Frédéric 1962-

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Lenoir, Frédéric 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born June 3, 1962, in Madagascar. Education: Attended the University of Fribourg, Switzerland; Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, doctoral degree (summa cum laude).

ADDRESSES:

Home—Paris, France; Normandy. Agent—Susanna Lea Associates, 28, rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris, France.

CAREER:

Sociologist, philosopher, writer, and editor. Editions Fayard, editor of religion department, 1986-91; Environnement sans frontiers, cofounder, 1992; Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, began as associate research professor and became professor, 1994—; World of Religions (Les Monde des Religions) magazine, editor-in-chief.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Prix européen de langue française, 2003, for Les métamorphoses de Dieu; Prix des maisons de la presse, 2004, for La promesse de l'ange.

WRITINGS:

Les communautés nouvelles: interviews des fondateurs, preface by Cardinal A. Decourtray, Fayard (Paris, France), 1988.

(With Bernard Holzer) Les risques de la solidarité: entretiens sur le CCFD, Fayard (Paris, France), 1989.

(With Estelle Saint-Martin) Mère Teresa: biographie, Plon (Paris, France), 1993.

(Editor, with Ysé Tardan-Masquelier) Encyclopédie des religions (title means "The Encyclopedia of Religions"), Bayard (Paris, France), 1997.

(With Nathalie Luca) Sectes: mensonges et idéaux, Bayard (Paris, France), 1998.

(Editor, with Catherine David and Jean-Philippe de Tonnac) Entretiens sur la fin des temps, Fayard (Paris, France), 1998, translation by Ian Maclean and Roger Pearson published as Conversations about the End of Time, Fromm International (New York, NY), 2000.

LeMoine et le Lama, Fayard (Paris, France), 2001.

Le Secret, Albin Michel (Paris, France), 2001.

(With Laurent Deshayes) L' Épopée des Tibétains: entre mythe et réalité, Fayard (Paris, France), 2002.

Les métamorphoses de Dieu (title means "The Metamorphosis of God"), Plon (Paris, France), 2003.

(With Hubert Reeves) Mal de terre, Editions du Seuil (Paris, France), 2003.

(With Marie-France Etchegoin) Code da Vinci, l'enquête, Laffont (Paris, France), 2004.

(Director, with Jean-Philippe de Tonnac) La mort et l'immortalité: encyclopédie des savoirs et des croyances, Bayard (Paris, France), 2004.

(With Violette Cabesos) La promesse de l'ange, Albin Michel (Paris, France), 2004, translation by Lauren Yoder published as The Angel's Promise, Pegasus (Cambridge, England), 2006.

(With Abbe Pierre) Mon Dieu … pourquoi?, Plon (Paris, France), 2005, translation by Carolyn and William A. McComish published as Why, Oh Why, My God?: Meditations on Christian Faith and the Meaning of Life, WCC Publications (Geneva, Switzerland), 2007.

L'Oracle della Luna, Albin Michel (Paris, France), 2006.

Also author with Lolande Cadrin-Rossignol of the comic series La prophétie des deux mondes, drawings by Alexis Chabert, c. 2003; and of the French documentary series titled Sectes, mensonges et idéaux (title means "Sects, Lies and Ideals"), 1998. Columnist for Psychologies magazine, 2001-03. Works have been published in Spanish, English, and other languages.

SIDELIGHTS:

Frédéric Lenoir is a philosopher and sociologist and is also the author and editor of numerous works focusing on religion. For example, he serves as coeditor with Catherine David and Jean-Philippe de Tonnac of Conversations about the End of Time, which features interviews with the writers and thinkers Umberto Eco, Stephen Jay Gould, Jean-Claude Carriere, and Jean Delumeau. The focus of the "conversations" is the then upcoming millennium Y2K scare in which disaster was predicted for the world due to an expected widespread malfunction of computers. The various prominent thinkers comment on "doomsday" scenario phenomenon in a societal and psychological context from various perspectives, including historical and religious. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book "sometimes provocative, sometimes superficial."

Lenoir is also the author, with Violette Cabesos, of the historical-theological thriller The Angel's Promise. The story revolves around archeologist Johanna who has had a headless monk visit her in her dreams for more than twenty-five years, ever since she was a young child and visited the abbey Mont St. Michel. She eventually discovers that the monk is Brother Roman, who lived a thousand years ago and who keeps leav- ing her the message: "You must dig in the earth to reach heaven." When Johanna returns to Mont St. Michel on an archeological dig, she uncovers a murder mystery involving a heathen Celtic healer and two monks. Allison Block, writing in Booklist, noted that the book is too detailed in religious history but added that the authors "have produced an otherwise riveting novel about the precarious consequences of unearthing the past." A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "the novel has a certain grandiosity and heft that's undeniably appealing."