Dutch-born superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1983, when the Jesuits were allowed to return to their own governance after a time of papal "intervention," until 2008, when he resigned at the age of 80.

He entered the Jesuits in 1948, went to Lebanon in the mid-1950s, earned a doctorate from the famous Saint Joseph's University in Beirut, and spent much of his life there, first as a professor of linguistics and then as superior of the Jesuit vice-province of the Middle East.

By his own admission, he was relatively "ignorant of matters pertaining to justice and injustice," when he went from Beirut to Rome for Jesuit General Congregation 32 and witnessed the faith-justice emphasis emerge from the Congregation under the leadership of Pedro Arrupe [see "The Service Faith and the Promotion of Justice"]. Still, as superior general, he worked tirelessly in collaboration with his advisors to implement and extend the direction in which his predecessor had been leading the Society [see "Men and Women for Others"/"Whole Persons of Solidarity for the Real World"].

He leaves a legacy to Jesuit higher education in a series of major addresses, most notably Georgetown University (Assembly '89) and at Santa Clara University (2000).

29th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (1983 to 2008)
A biography

Addresses of Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J. delivered at American universities

The Service of Faith in a Religiously Pluralistic World (Xavier University, 2006) (PDF)

Cooperating with Each other in Mission (Creighton University, 2004)

A Focus on Solidarity (Spring Hill College, 2004)

Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education (Santa Clara University, 2000)

Themes of Jesuit Higher Ed. (Georgetown University, 1989)