A Franciscan View of Creation

Cover

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p. c-c

Title Page, Copyright

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pp. i-ii

Table of Contents

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pp. iii-iv

General Editor's Introduction

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pp. v-xvi

On behalf of the Commission for the Retrieval of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition (CFIT), I present to you with great pleasure this second volume of The Franciscan Heritage Series—A Franciscan View of Creation by Ilia Delio, O.S.F. The purpose of this volume, building on the general introduction established in our first publication, is to elucidate in greater detail the theology of creation as a foundational...

Part One: Author's Introduction

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pp. 1-4

On Christmas Eve 1968, the first astronauts in orbit around the moon appeared live on television. Frank Borman read the opening verses of Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the water. And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”...

Part Two: Francis of Assisi: Creation as Brother/Sister

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pp. 5-20

In a landmark essay, the historian Lynn White asserts that Christians are responsible for the ecological crisis because they took God’s command to have dominion over creation (Gen. 1:27-28) as a command to dominate and subdue it. White argues that no religion has been more focused on humans than Christianity and none more rigid in excluding all but humans from divine grace...

Part Three: Bonaventure's Theology of Creation

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pp. 21-32

While Francis entered into the heart of creation by entering into the heart of Christ, the theologian, Bonaventure, reflected on the experience of Francis and developed a theology of creation that is both faithful to Francis’s intuitions and to the Christian theological tradition itself. There is no doubt that Bonaventure reflected deeply on the life of Francis. As seventh Minister...

Part Four: John Duns Scotus's Theology of Creation

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pp. 33-40

While Bonaventure described an intimate link between the Trinity and creation, a link that affirms the goodness of creation, the fourteenth-century theologian, John Duns Scotus, viewed the goodness of creation through the lens of the primacy of Christ, the freedom of God, and the contingency of the world. Scotus’s doctrine of creation is insightful and original. It imparts to...

Part Five: Summary

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pp. 41-44

Viewing the doctrine of creation through the writings of Francis, Bonaventure and Scotus, we can identify themes that form a continuous thread of ideas: 1) the goodness of creation, 2) the integral relationship between Christ and creation, 3) the sacramentality of creation, 4) the integral relationship between the human and the non-human aspects of creation, and 5) the universe as a divine milieu with Christ as center....

Conclusion: What is Ours to Do?

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pp. 45-47

Standing on such a deep and powerful tradition, how should Franciscans today relate to creation? How can we understand the human journey to God as one that includes creation? How can the tradition help us overcome violence to creation and restore relationships of peace and justice? Is it enough simply to “recycle” or “turn off the lights” or does our tradition call us to a more radical...

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

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pp. 48-49

Notes

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pp. 50-54

Select Bibliography

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pp. 55-56

Back Cover

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p. 57-57