A Study of the problems of the early history of the Franciscan ORder by one of the most important scholars of the ORder, this book seeks to contribute to a stronger historical understanding of the work of St. Francis byu looking into the debates and theories surrounding the formation of the Order, and the transformation of the "original ideals of St. Francis."

Few realize that a person can pursue a truly supernatural vocation by consecrating himself or herself to perpetual celibacy while yet living in the world. Here Fr. Unger describes the main guidelines for such a religious vocation, showing the nature of this vocation and the manner of dedicating oneself to it. The author gives the history in the Church of consecrated celibate living, plus some basic helps in safeguarding purity in such a life. Based on the Pope Pius XII encyclical On Holy V...

This text offers a fresh translation of each admonition, parallel texts previously noted by other scholars or newly uncovered by Karris, as well as comments on each admonition verse by verse. The reader is led into Francis’s “theological workshop” where it becomes clear how Francis imprinted his own logo on the spiritual traditions he inherited.

A book about Franciscans and their economics and the way that Franciscans are developing a more relational economy as they serve the poor and vulnerable around the world.Francis fraternal economy is not primarily about dollars and cents, market shares or stock derivatives. It is about the destiny of men and women in the real world and how they come about a new security and peace in God. By the time his captivity as a prisoner of war had come to an end, Francis had given up on the violence ...

The Gospel Coalition Book Awards Winner – Theological StudiesModern theology claimed that it ignited a renaissance in trinitarian theology. Really, it has been a renaissance in social trinitarianism. Classical commitments like divine simplicity have been jettisoned, the three persons have been redefined as three centers of consciousness and will, and modern agendas in politics, gender, and ecclesiology determine the terms of the discussion. Contemp...

“A good Catholic man loves his wife not only in the first period of marriage, when she is young, beautiful, sprightly, vivacious and generally charming, and when their union still has the spice of novelty and freshness: but he will love her as much or even more as years wear on.”—Fr. Fulgence Meyer, OFMPublished in the 1920s, this timeless book offers practical counsel and wisdom relevant for every Catholic married couple and those preparing for this great sacrament. Specif...

Olivi’s commentaries stem mainly from his teaching of Franciscan students in their study houses (studia). Unfortunately only his Commentary on Mark’s Gospel has appeared in English translation. Peter of John Olivi’s Commentary on Luke is largely focused on its literal sense although his insights are often non-traditional and penetrating. Through this small book, he is presented as a Franciscan biblical interpreter not only to the Franciscan Family, but also to the world at large.

"These are not drunk, as you suppose" (Acts 2:15) ―Peter preaching to the crowd after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We tend to overlook Peter's opening words to the crowd that first Pentecost morning, to our own peril. His denial of drunkenness in the wake of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit should stop us in our tracks. What was going on here? How did the apostles experience the Holy Spirit? What was he teaching them? How was he empowering them? What does this scene in the...

Baptism by water is the new birth. Baptism of the Spirit renews that birth and is "a conscious awareness and a powerful experience of its meaning and its potentialities," as Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa explains in this rich discussion of how the Holy Spirit makes all things new. In this followup to the bestselling first volume, Fr. Cantalamessa explores the themes of ongoing conversion, our transformation in faith, and our need to focus always on eternity.

This eighth and final volume of the Collected Essays of Peter Damian Fehlner entitled, in the spirit of Fehlner's hero John Henry Newman, Studies Systematic and Critical, includes published and previously unpublished studies, spanning a wide range of years and topics. In his critical studies, Fehlner with his Scotistic subtlety wrestles with Karl Rahner over Trinitarian theology and the Kantian inflections within transcendental Thomism. Fehlner unmasks Hegelian undercurrents of Neopatripas...

Volume six of the Collected Essays of Peter Damian Fehlner, entitled simply, St. Maximilian Kolbe, gathers together Fehlner's essays on the great Conventual Franciscan saint and martyr. These works come mainly from the journal founded by Kolbe, Miles Immaculatae, and were composed in the 1980s when Fehlner was editor of said journal. Readers of this volume will note the close connection to the themes of ecclesiological renewal and the Conventual Franciscan charism treated in volume five, a...

Theology of Creation, volume seven of the Collected Essays of Peter Damian Fehlner,presents Fehlner's writings on creation, spanning forty years of reflection. Emphasizing the dogmatic, Fehlner presents an accessible, yet rigorous, analysis of the key assumptions, missteps, ambiguities, and plain equivocations that have given rise to so much controversy since the appearance of Darwin's 1859 On the Origin of Species. Basing himself firmly on theological and metaphysical foundations that mus...