Who Alfred Läpple is

Alfred Läpple at the time when he was teacher of Pastoral Theology and the Sacraments at Freising seminary

Alfred Läpple (Partenkirchen 1915) was ordained priest in 1947 and gained his doctorate in Theology an the University of Munich in 1951 under the supervision of Professor Theodor Steinbüchel with a thesis on “The individual in the Church. Fundamental features of a theology of the individual in John Henry Newman”. In parallel, from 1948 to 1952 he taught Pastoral Theology and the Sacraments at Freising seminary. From 1952 he taught religion at the Max Planck scientific high school in Munich-Pasing, up to 1970 when he became professor at the upper school of the Sciences of Education in Landau. In November 1972 he was appointed to the chair of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy at the Theology Faculty of the University of Saltsburg, of which he became Dean in 1978. Läpple is co-founder of the magazine ‘The teaching of religion in upper schools’ (Religionsunterricht an Höheren Schulen, Patmos, Düsseldorf). Among the numerous publications translated into various languages of his vast scholarly production there are many scholastic books and manuals, together with wide research on the history of the Church and on exegesis and biblical catechesis, for example, ‘From exegesis to catechesis in four volumes’ (Von der Exegese zur Katechese, Don Bosco Verlag, München 1975/ 77. 4 Bde.). In Italy he has published, among other titles, Messaggio biblico per il nostro tempo [Biblical Message for our time] (San Paolo, Milan 1996) and Sulle vie del mondo. Le grandi tappe della storia della Chiesa [On the roads of the world. The great stages in the history of the Church] (Queriniana, Brescia 1988). Recently he has published a ‘Brief history of the Church’ (Kleine Kirchengeschichte, Augsburg 2006). This current year will see the publication of his book on Benedict XVI (Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg), which is to be launched on the occasion of the Pope’s next visit to Germany.