Non-Fiction / Memoir
I have not only written academic books, but have also been successful as a non-fiction author, including a book about my own experiences as a young religious woman
Nicht mehr ich
(No longer I)
This book tells the story of a young woman who, at the age of 19, enters a new Catholic community in 2003. She experiences various forms of spiritual abuse by superiors and sexual abuse by two priests who work in the Vatican and are protected by the community's superiors. Her faith, the study of theology, and an encounter with a friend (later her husband) eventually help her break free from this community.
The book thrives on the contrast between the sometimes harrowing experiences and the calm tone in which they are told. The author is not angry, she does not want to accuse, but to make understandable how a normal Catholic socialization, youthful enthusiasm and certain ideas of religious life, virginity and asceticism create a fertile ground for abuse. Looking back, she illuminates not only her personal journey of suffering and liberation, but also analyzes structural and theological factors that make abuse possible.
Nur die Wahrheit rettet
This book is different from all other books about Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. It is not a biographical narrative. It does not seek primarily to describe Joseph Ratzinger the man, but rather to explore one question:
What role did this man, who decisively shaped the Catholic Church for over a quarter of a century, play in its failure in the abuse crisis? We try to be as close to Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI as possible and to understand his very own motivations: What did he know? What could he have done? What did he do? What did he not do, and, above all, why? Why, for example, did Ratzinger leave abusers in the priesthood unchallenged for years, while he mercilessly persecuted alleged deviants in doctrine?
We look at Ratzinger as a figure in a complex ecclesiastical system. We bring his biography into contact with events and facts that have long been public, but are surprisingly little known. We juxtapose events, dates, and names, bringing together threads of action that lead us to Ratzinger again and again, and shed new light on his actions.
Page by page, a picture of this man emerges that is quite different from that of the shy scholar, the quiet hero, the " Panzerkardinal" or the "Mozart of theology".