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.

Creation is a vast and awesome mystery. From the furthest horizons of an ever-expanding universe to the organization of a single cell, every level of nature manifests intricate beauty. For Francis of Assisi, as for Bonaventure, created reality reveals God's overflowing goodness reflected in the order, beauty, and harmony of nature. In this third volume of Washington Theological Union papers sponsored by the Commission on the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition (CFIT), we hope to catalyze further discussion and exploration of creation as the sacrament of God. The insights of our Franciscan heritage have much to offer our planet, which is today in a perilous situation. Wee believe that this rich theological tradition can provide a framework for incorporating environmental sensitivity into contemporary religious practice.

From Logos to Christos is a collection of essays in Christology written by friends and colleagues in memory of Joanne McWilliam. McWilliam was a pioneer woman in the academic study of theology, specializing in Patristic studies and internationally recognized for her work on Augustine. For countless students she was a teacher, a mentor, an inspiration. These fourteen essays are a fitting tribute to her memory.

Written by recognized North American scholars, the essays explore various aspects of Christology, inviting the reader to probe the meaning and significance of Jesus Christ for today. They address a broad range of issues, including the Christology of the Acts of Thomas, Hooker on divinization, and Christ figures in contemporary Canadian culture.

Teachers of theology and religious studies, pastors, and informed general readers will find the essays stimulating and instructive. They present the readers with considered, mature, and current scholarship. These are the questions that engaged Joanne McWilliam throughout her life, and she was happy to know that the critical dialogue would continue in this volume as friends and colleagues wrestled with Christological questions. For her, “In Jesus we come to know the compassion, the power, the wisdom, the love, and the faithfulness of God”.

Jacob Boehme, the seventeenth-century German speculative mystic, influenced the philosophers Hegel and Schelling and both English and German Romantics alike with his visionary thought. Gnostic Apocalypse focuses on the way Boehme’s thought repeats and surpasses post-reformation Lutheran thinking, deploys and subverts the commitments of medieval mysticism, realizes the speculative thrust of Renaissance alchemy, is open to esoteric discourses such as the Kabbalah, and articulates a dynamic metaphysics. This book critically assesses the striking claim made in the nineteenth century that Boehme’s visionary discourse represents within the confines of specifically Protestant thought nothing less than the return of ancient Gnosis. Although the grounds adduced on behalf of the “Gnostic return” claim in the nineteenth century are dismissed as questionable, O’Regan shows that the fundamental intuition is correct. Boehme’s visionary discourse does represent a return of Gnosticism in the modern period, and in this lies its fundamental claim to our contemporary philosophical, theological, and literary attention.

Over the centuries in word and deed, Franciscan scholars and practitioners have demonstrated a clear and faithful understanding of what it means to live as followers of Christ in a defined ecclesia. Francis of Assisi was eminently clear about his attitude toward the Church, understood both as community and institution.

God, Evil, and Human Learning explores the age-old question: How is it possible to believe in the God of the Christian faith when the world contains so many grievous evils? Author Fred Berthold Jr. examines the most influential argument used by Christian theologians to answer that question, the “free will defense,” which holds that God is not responsible for the evil in the world, but that evil arises from the human misuse of free will. He points out the weaknesses of this defense and provides a more adequate concept of free will. Berthold argues that free will is a complex of abilities which are acquired—if acquired—through human learning in the context of experiences of actual goods and evils and their consequences. He revises the “free will defense” and offers a new view of the relationship between God and his creatures.