Franciscan Heritage

In this ninth volume of the Franciscan Heritage Series, Mary Beth Ingham introduces readers to the Franciscan vision and values of Blessed John Duns Scotus (1266-1308). Framed within the context of Franciscan spiritual values, chapters focus on creation and the dignity of each individual being, on cognition and the powers of human knowing, on the proof for God's existence, on the nature of Theology, on the central role of freedom for conversion and the love of friendship, on moral goodness and beauty, on practical decision making, and on salvation history. In order to highlight the particularly Franciscan approach to these topics, each chapter offers helpful points of comparison and contrast with the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Throughout, the poetry of Scotist-inspired Gerard Manley Hopkins sets the artistic backdrop for a vision of reality informed by Franciscan values and Franciscan optimism. Hopkins praised the hope and intricacy of Scotist thought, naming him of realty the rarest-veined unraveller.

Written as a companion volume to Women of the Streets: Early Franciscan Women and their Mendicant Vocation (Franciscan Institute Publications, 2010), Enduring Presence offers grittier stories of the faith journeys of lay men and lay women who helped create the Franciscan charism in the first generations of the Franciscan movement. Their unique contributions as "somatic theologians" or people who contributed to the Franciscan intellectual tradition by how they lived out the theology and spirituality are mapped out here in this volume and include work, marriage, hospitality, and service as spiritual practice. ABOUT THE FRANCISCAN HERITAGE SERIES: This is the tenth in a series intended to encompass topics which will connect the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition with today's language of our Christian Catholic Franciscan way of Gospel Life. Previous volumes have presented an overview of the tradition, discussed dimensions of creation and Christian anthropology in Franciscan theology, and illustrated them through an iconographic tradition found in the Gospel of John. It is our hope that Understanding John Duns Scotus: 'Of Realty the Rarets-veined Unfraveller' – just as the sermons, commentaries, and treatises of Bonaventure, Scotus, or Ockham – will add to our understanding of the Franciscan intellectual tradition because these stories reveal how creation is a sacrament of God's loving presence and the first book of revelation.