Facing a Pandemic traces the history and spread of the HIV/AIDS virus in Africa and its impact on African society and public policy before considering new priorities needed to combat the pandemic. The central argument is that the theological motif of the image of God invites a prophetic critique of the social environment in which HIV/AIDS thrives and calls for a praxis of love and compassion.

How can ordinary Christians find moral guidance for the mundane dilemmas they confront in their daily lives? To answer this question, Julie Hanlon Rubio brings together a rich Catholic theology of marriage and a strong commitment to social justice to focu

In this thought-provoking book Thaddée Matura offers a new way of lookingIn this thought-provoking book Thaddée Matura offers a new way of looking at how the Franciscan tradition was adapted and contemporized during the centuries. In a clear and accessible style he shows how the Franciscan Family has gotten to the stage it now enjoys and shows how liberating history can be and is. In 2004 Franciscan Institute Publications reprinted Matura’s Francis of Assisi: The Message in His Writings.

The scholarly authors of the essays in this volume probe important facets of preaching and its history in the Franciscan tradition, as well as its import for the larger Church. Insightful and critical, they trace pathways into the future. From their historical perspective, we appreciate, perhaps for the first time, what a creative impulse to preaching Franciscan men and women brought to the service of the Gospel. We see how ordinary Christian people experienced the impulse to unfold the work of God in Christian life. We see, too, the intrinsic ambivalence of the Franciscan tradition in working out its relationship to the role of clerical preaching tin the hierarchical Church. We are invited to enjoy the feast prepared by scholarship and creative, critical thought.

The purpose of this book is to present some general and major themes of the theological formulation of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition as these themes intersect with contemporary perspectives. It provides a fine starting point for further reflection and a solid foundation for future expositions in this series. It is meant to help readers plumb the spiritual depths of our Franciscan inheritance and challenges readers to express these theological themes in preaching, in pastoral practice, in the works of evangelization and in the formative experiences of friars, sisters and the laity.

An assessment of the rise and fall within the Franciscan Order of the doctrine of the absolute poverty of Christ and the apostles. Covering the decades between 1210-1323, Lambert describes the doctrine as found in the mind of St. Francis and moves to Pope John XXII’s condemnation of one particular form of the doctrine.

The purpose of this book is to elucidate in greater detail the theology of creation as a foundational starting point for contemporary belief and practices. The centrality in our faith tradition of the relationship between the Creator and all of creation and the reflection of the Trinity's glory in everything is undergoing a renaissance in our twenty-first century world. This book provides a fine stimulus for further reflection on this view, so fundamental to the spiritual vision of Francis and Clare. Dr. Delio here traces teh theme of God and creation from the time of the conversion of Francis through the first century of Franciscan life and thought, which culminated in the work of John Duns Scotus.

This brief volume discusses several of the central elements of human person as found in those works of the Franciscan theological tradition which, when taken together, most sufficiently describe these qualities. As the tradition developed over the years, the intuitions and insights of St., Francis and St. Clarie of Assisi concerning the human person were developed and/or restated in language better understood by the people of a particular era. Two of the most famous early Franciscan theologians, Bonaventure and John Duns Scotus, did just that. This volume will, by drawing on the wisdom on the Franciscan tradition, contribute in a similar way to an understanding of the human person today.

Originally published in Italian in 2004, Todeschini's studies highlight the relationship between the development of the Franciscan movement and medieval economic thinking and practice. While not the "first economists" the early Franciscans approached the marketplace out of their rigorous Christian religiosity and showed clearly the necessary connection between morality and business.