In Refounding the Church, Anthony Maher delivers a profound and urgent theological manifesto for our times. With meticulous scholarship and prophetic insight, Maher confronts the mounting crises facing both Western culture and the Catholic Church, offering a bold vision of renewal grounded in the concept of entanglement — a quantum metaphor that underscores radical relationality, interconnectedness, and a shared responsibility for human flourishing. Maher masterfully weaves together historical analysis, ecclesiological reflection, and contemporary socio-political critique, diagnosing the spiritual malaise gripping Western society. He draws attention to the resurgence of authoritarianism and the troubling rise of Christian nationalism, embodied by figures like Trump and Putin, whose ideological distortions of faith weaponise Christianity to serve political ends. In this darkening landscape, Maher challenges the Church to reclaim its prophetic voice, advocating for a return to the liberative mission of the Gospel.
Anthony Maher was the 2024 Crawford-Miller (Oxford-Australia) Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, Professor of Practical Theology and Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Canberra. He was the previous President of the Association of Practical Theology in Oceania and has also served as Academic Dean, theological consultant, and Director at various higher education institutions in the UK and Australia. Recent books include Theology and the People of God (2022); Faith and the Political in the Post-Secular Age (2017); The Forgotten Jesuit of Catholic Modernism (2017); and Bridging the Divide between Faith, Theology and Life (2015). His current research in post-secular, political theology includes his next book, ‘Refounding Australia’ (2026/7). Anthony is married to Lesley, they have four children and live in Sydney.
The whole Church owes Anthony Maher a great debt of gratitude for his Entanglement Ecclesiology: Refounding the Church, in which he lays out his vision for a future Church characterized by radical relationality, interconnectedness, and a shared responsibility for human flourishing. It is an urgent theological manifesto for our times and a pragmatic call to action to overcome the gripping crises facing the Catholic Church and our fractured world. No Church leaders and concerned lay Catholics can afford not to read Entanglement Ecclesiology if they want the Church to realize its role as a beacon of justice, peace, and ecological stewardship, and "refound" it on the principles of solidarity and liberation of the Gospel. They will find in this book a bold and hopeful vision for Church renewal inspired by Vatican II and Pope Francis.
 Peter C. Phan, The Ignacio Ellacuria, SJ, Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University.