Franciscan Studies Online Summer School: 9-20 June 2025
The Centre for Catholic Studies is delighted to announce the second summer school in Franciscan Studies, which will run from 9-20 June 2025.
This two-week online summer school in Franciscan Studies is an exciting opportunity to encounter the riches of Franciscan theology, history and spirituality and explore their relevance for today. Learn from world experts in Franciscan studies through video lectures and live Teams sessions, and interact with participants from across the globe in small group seminars. The flexible online format means that you can register from anywhere and fit the courses around your schedule, with the option to take one or more courses as you choose. Two public lectures by leading scholars are open to all, whether or not you are registered on a course.
For more information, visit www.ccsfranciscanstudies.co.uk
Register for the summer school
Courses for 2025:
9-13 June Franciscan Reform and Renewal with Br Bill Short OFM £90
Over the last eight centuries the men and women of the three Franciscan Orders have experienced significant movements of reform and renewal. Some of these have led to new life and energy for Franciscan communities, while others have led to painful divisions. During this one-week course we will explore some of the more important moments in this lively and little-known history of reform and division.
This course includes a public lecture by Professor John McCafferty on ‘Sandals, Spaniards and Scotus: Defending Francis and his friars 400 years after his death.’
16-20 June Heart Speaks to Heart: Franciscan Foundations for Moral Theology with Professor Mary Beth Ingham CSJ £90
Thiscourse offers an overview of medieval Franciscan Masters in their effort to articulate a Franciscan basis for moral living. Inspired by the Gospel, earlier Patristic thinkers, and the spiritual vision of Francis of Assisi, these early masters worked to weave three core elements into a dynamic whole: the divine will, natural law, and human freedom. The result of their efforts offers us the foundations for a moral vision based on love for God and neighbour. Each session will focus on the approach of one of the following: Alexander of Hales/John de la Rochelle (Summa Halensis), Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham. At the close, the course considers the importance of this moral vision for our world today.
This course includes a public lecture by Sr Margaret Carney on ‘Francis of Assisi, Francis of Rome and a Church Reimagined’.
9-20 June Advanced Seminar: The Heart Ascending: Bonaventure on Love, Wisdom and the Road to God with Dr William Crozier £120
In his Collations on the Six Days of Creation, St. Bonaventure outlines his understanding of the four stages of wisdom which are offered to the soul in this life as it seeks to move closer to God: "uniform wisdom", "multiform wisdom", "omniform wisdom", and "nulliform wisdom". Broadly construed, these correspond to philosophical learning, the wisdom of scripture, the theological reading of the natural world, and, finally, the illumination of mystical experience and rapture. This course introduces the student to each of these different "faces" of wisdom and shows how the heart ascends through them by means of the loving knowledge which comes through the theological virtue of love.