Richard Rohr

Richard Rohr is a Franciscan friar, ecumenical teacher and author of Christian spirituality. In 1987, he founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to unite contemplative practice with compassionate action. He later stepped back from active duties and became its founder and faculty emeritus.

His nonfiction draws on Scripture, Franciscan spirituality and the Christian mystical tradition. Recurring concerns include contemplation, nondual consciousness, human transformation and the relationship between inner change and social justice. Rohr writes for general readers rather than academic specialists, often reframing familiar teachings through a contemplative lens.

His books include Falling Upward, which considers spiritual growth across the two halves of life; The Naked Now, about the way mystics perceive reality; and The Wisdom Pattern, organized around the movement from order through disorder to reorder. The Universal Christ, published in 2019, became a New York Times bestseller. It distinguishes the historical figure of Jesus from Rohr’s broader understanding of Christ as God’s presence throughout creation.

The Universal Christ is the natural starting point for a WebToTell reader. It gathers many of Rohr’s central ideas into one sustained argument and shows how his contemplative theology changes the way he reads Jesus, creation and human belonging. Readers drawn to its account of spiritual maturity can continue with Falling Upward.