Number 10 – Greed, Lust, and Power: Franciscan Strategies for Building a More Just World (2010 Symposium). Essays by Joseph Nangle, O.F.M., Michael H. Crosby, O.F.M. Cap., Darleen Pryds, and Vincent Cushing, O.F.M. To order, go to Washington Theological Union/CFIT.

Featured presenters, Joseph Nangle, Michael Crosby, Darleen Pryds and Vincent Cushing. As our guides in this process of conscientization, the speakers, whose diverse expertise and experiences exemplified the distinctly Franciscan strategies they would develop and present, challenged the Symposium s participants to engage with the world in a way that is both informed by the teachings of the Gospel and guided by the principles of social analysis: observe, judge, and act. In this way, we are able to discern what our Franciscan responses to the needs of a world infected by greed, lust, and disordered uses of power should be, and so develop strategies capable of affecting those responses.

Number 9 – Poverty and Prosperity: Franciscans and the Use of Money (2009 Symposium). Essays by C. Colt Anderson, Marie Dennis, Michael F. Cusato, O.F.M., Steven McMichael, O.F.M. Conv., David Burr, and Jane Kopas, O.S.F.

The topic for this Symposium at Washington Theological Union in 2009 was chosen well in advance of the world economic crisis which developed in 2008-2009, but with that reality the theme was infused with additional significance. While plans to gather academics for a thought-provoking investigation into Franciscan traditions involving poverty continued, their presentations were balanced with insights from activists to bring the past into dialogue with the present in order to help us understand how we might think about our resources.

As the papers in this volume demonstrate, Franciscan poverty has and continues to develop and to elicit new forms in the life of the Church. This 2009 Symposium has raised many important questions and possibilities as to how Franciscans can and should use money that will be valuable for the Franciscan family to consider. Even so, the issues relating to prosperity still need further consideration. When one studies the history of the divisions of the Franciscan communities, it seems that they arise out of prosperity rather than poverty. How Franciscans respond to prosperity seems to play a significant role in how Franciscans respond to each other.

Number 8 – Moral Action in a Complex World: Franciscan Perspectives (2008 Symposium). Essays by Brian Johnstone, C.Ss.R., Thomas Shannon, Kathryn Getek, Thomas Nairn, O.F.M., and Mary Beth Ingham, C.S.J.

Francis of Assisi, frequently referred to as a vernacular theologian, was at the center of that perfect storm known as the Franciscan Movement. While the Order's roots are unmistakeably lay, it quickly became established as a clerical organ of the thirteenth century Roman Catholic Church. As such, it was often at the forefront of theological and philosophical debate affecting every aspect of the faith life that time. Leaders from within the Order rose up to guide the development of those discussions and to safeguard the orthodoxy of the faithful. Names like Anthony of Padua, Alexander of Hales, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, John Duns Scoutus, Peter John Olivi and William of Ockham - to mention just a few- still entice us into that world of subtlety and complexity which was Medieval Scholasticism.

Scholars, both within the Family and without, search the teachings and writings of these medieval giants for insights that can be applied to contemporary challenges of moral decision-making and the relevance of these thirteenth and fourteenth century Franciscans to today's world and today's Church.

Number 7 – Franciscan Evangelization: Striving to Preach the Gospel (2007 Symposium). Essays by Dominic Monti, O.F.M., C. Colt Anderson, Darleen Pryds, and Joseph Chinnici, O.F.M.

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.

Number 6 – Franciscans and Liturgical Life: Let Us Praise, Adore, and Give Thanks (2006 Symposium). Essays by Catherine Dooley, O.P., Judith Kubicki, O.S.F., James Sabak, O.F.M., William Cieslak, O.FM. Cap., and Daniel Grigassy, O.F.M.

About two years before he died, Francis of Assisi composed his Canticle of the Creatures. Although he was very ill, blind, and near death, this light-filled hymn emerged from his inner depths as a song of praise and glory resounding throughout the whole creation. The Canticle, in a sense, recapitulated the life of Francis, a life of prayer, praise and adoration to the living God of overflowing love. His fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours, his sacramental view of creation and his Christ-centeredness, all reflected in the Canticle, remind us that Francis's life was, at its core, a liturgical life.

As these papers on Franciscan liturgical life were presented at the Washington Theological Union Symposium in 2006, one could hear whispered among the participants: Are not our hearts burning within us? May the fire of the Spirit illuminating this volume of excellent scholarship ignite within its readers a creative spirit of prayer so that our lives may be lifted up in praise, adoration and thanksgiving to a God of generous love and great humility.

Number 5 – Franciscans and the Scriptures: Living in the Word of God (2005 Symposium). Essays by Dominic Monti, O.F.M., James Scullion, O.F.M., Robert J. Karris, O.F.M., and Michael Guinan, O.F.M.

Francis of Assisi was able to bridge the gap that had developed between the Church and the many popular approaches to being poor disciples, who often became separated from the Church. By bridging that gap, and by remaining rooted in the Gospel, Francis articulated the foundations for reform in the Church. His life was evangelical, Catholic and reforming.For those of us who are Christian, the Word of God is a primary experience of the Divine. It is more than a mere carrier of ideas framed in concise propositions. It is, as much Scriptural scholarship maintains today, a life-changing, transformative encounter with the Father, Christ the Anointed One and the life-giving Spirit. It is an invitation into the life of the Spirit and an affirmation of each person's human destiny. The contribution of careful biblical scholarship to the Franciscan Movement yields a rich harvest of insight and depth. This present volume by four noted Franciscan scholars provides a valuable step forward in our Christian journey.In 2001, the English Speaking Conference of the Order of Friars Minor (ESC), in collaboration with Franciscan theological schools of the English-speaking world, committed itself to promoting the renewal of Franciscan theological and intellectual formation among the members of the Franciscan family. This promotion has a twofold purpose: to help members understand the beauty and wealth of the Franciscan intellectual tradition and to extend to the whole Franciscan family and to society the intellectual heritage of the Franciscan school so that it can support effective evangelization. This series of publications aims to carry forward this purpose. It is hoped that, with hope, joy and enthusiasm, Franciscans can once again look at their intellectual history, make it part of their lives and prepare to become better proclaimers of the Word to the world.

Number 4 – “Go Rebuild My House”: Franciscans and the Church Today (2004 Symposium). Essays by Doris Gottemoeller, R.S.M., John Burkhard, O.F.M . Conv., C. Colt Anderson, Vincent Cushing, O.F.M, and Katarina Schuth, O.S.F.

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.

Today, as in the time of Francis, moral failures and overt incompetence in the Church create credibility gaps between the people and those entrusted with authority. Is there a Franciscan way of approaching this pain and brokenness? What lies beneath the fidelity of St. Francis to the Church and its authorities? How can Christians today look with compassion on this suffering body and hear, as Francis heard, a voice directing us to rebuild my church? In this volume of essays we hear a word of hope as the authors reflect with us on these very same questions for our times.

Number 3 – Franciscans and Creation: What Is Our Responsibility? (2003 Symposium). Essays by John F. Haught, Gabriele Uhlein, O.S.F., Dawn Nothwehr, O.S.F., Keith Douglass Warner, O.F.M., Frankin Fong, O.F.M., amd Zachary Hayes, O.F.M.

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.

Franciscan Identity and Post-Modern Culture (2002 Symposium). Essays by Ilia Delio, O.S.F., John Burkhard, O.F.M . Conv., Jane Kopas, O.S.F., Xavier John Seubert, O.F.M., Vincent Cushing, O.F.M., and Gabriele Uhlein, O.S.F.

It is far too easy to forget that Francis and the others did not know that they were living in what we now blithely call the high middle ages, the period of a much discussed synthesis of faith, politics and culture. They knew themselves to be combating principalities and powers in new social settings that struggled alongside declining feudal constructs and demanded new and unprecedented social covenants. The novitas of the Franciscan movement attracted because it offered evangelical imagination confronting the destruction of old certainties of rank, function and form in marketplace and monastery alike.

This book explores the demanding cultural context in which we do the work of retrieval and revitalization. That critical context has increasingly come to be identified by the current nomenclature of historic periodization - in a word, postmodernity. This new cultural awareness dominates our attempts to understand ourselves, our society and our Christian identity. At times, the welter of definitions and the arcane scientific, linguistic and symbolic expressions of postmodernity appear to create a gulf between our generation and the Gospel simplicity of Francis, Clare and their fellow pilgrims.

The Franciscan Intellectual Tradition (2001 Symposium). This seminal issue contains essays by Ilia Delio, O.S.F., Dominic Monti, O.F.M., Zachary Hayes, O.F.M., Kenan Osborne, O.F.M., Diane Tomkinson, O.S.F., Mary Beth Ingham, C.S.J., and Joseph Chinnici, O.F.M.

Franciscan scholars of the 1950s and 1960s sparked a vibrant revival of first-rate Franciscan scholarship. For the past forty years, their progeny have worked long and hard and have further probed, developed, translated, and made available deeper riches of this ancient, yet fertile tradition. This exploring of the past in light of the contemporary has established a launching pad for what might well be described as a third generation of Franciscan studies. The scholarship in this volume represents an array of gifted North American thinkers who continue the important task of bringing historical knowledge, critical acumen and theological imagination to a dialogue of the past with our contemporary age.