In this fourth volume of Collected Essays, Bonaventure, John Duns Scotus, and the Franciscan Tradition, Peter Damian Fehlner traces the development of the Franciscan theologies of redemption, co-redemption, and the Immaculate Conception as they both flow from and return to a very concrete spirituality rooted in devotion to the persons of Jesus and Mary. The main protagonists in these studies are the towering figures of Bonaventure and John Duns Scotus. Framed within an ecclesiological and sacramental worldview, shaped by the correlative and markedly Franciscan doctrines of the Absolute Primacy of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception, Fehlner outlines the theological background and rationale for affirming Mary's co-redemptive role in creation and salvation history. In articulating this great vision of the church, Fehlner discloses the Catholic and Franciscan understanding of Tradition and its progressive penetration and integration of doctrinal and devotional development into the life of the church. For Fehlner, Mary's co-redemptive association with her Son and her union in charity with the Holy Spirit provides both the primary instance of and the hermeneutical key for prayerfully receiving and living the mysteries of our salvation.

St. Francis had a deep and lifelong devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, committing his order to her care. Franciscan Murray Bodo explores that relationship in this evocative and deeply spiritual encounter with Mary. At the heart of the book, Fr. Murray gives us a glimpse into all that Mary treasured in her heart during her extraordinary lifetime. He shares poems and stories of his own complicated relationship with Mary. He examines Marian devotion across the centuries, particularly through the lens of great Franciscans such as Blessed John Duns Scotus and St. Bonaventure. A collection of Marian prayers rounds out this Franciscan celebration of Mary of Nazareth, Mother of God, Queen of the Angels. “There is something about a nourishing love that was central to the spirituality of St. Francis. He used to say to his Brothers that they were to love one another, as far as grace enables them to do so, the way a mother loves and nourishes the child of her flesh. And for St. Francis Mary was the mother because of the way she loved and nourished Jesus.”—Murray Bodo

Scotus' Teachings on Christ made simple This volume by Fr. Dean, FI is an excellent introductory summary of the well known Franciscan thesis, "The Primacy of Christ." Briefly stated, it is a thesis central to the doctrine and life of the Franciscan Order in particular and that of the Holy Church in general regarding the operation of God in the economy of salvation (Economic Trinity). The thesis stipulates the centraility of Christ in this Trinitarian operation as it presupposes the hierarchized ordering in the motive of the divine will. The uniqueness of this volume is the author's attempt to explain in simple language this theological doctrine for the non-professional theologians.

Scotus - unlike Thomas Aquinas - never commented on Aristotle's Politics nor did he write any significant political tracts like Ockham. Nevertheless, despite his primary philosophical reputation as a metaphysician, Scotus did have certain definitive ideas about both politics and the morality of the marketplace.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the Christian Churches are in a process of renewal. The Roman Catholic Church, since Vatican II, has been in a major stage of renewal. Contemporary globalization, multi-cultural interrelationships, and inter-religious dialogues have presented serious challenges to these renewal efforts. In this volume, I want to offer to the Catholic Renewal and from there to other denominational renewals, a view of the church from the rich tradition of Franciscan philosophy and theology. To date there are a only a few books which include small essays on this theme. This volume presents an in-depth Franciscan approach to ecclesiology.

The book investigates the aesthetic theology embedded in the Franciscan artistic tradition. The novelty of the approach is in applying concepts gleaned from Franciscan textual sources to create a deeper understanding of how art in all its sensual forms was foundational to the Franciscan milieu. Chapters range from studies of statements about aesthetics and the arts in theological textual sources to examples of visual, auditory, and tactile arts communicating theological ideas found in texts. The essays cover not only European art and textual sources, but also Franciscan influences in the Americas found in both texts and artifacts.