The legacy of early Franciscan thought

The legacy of late medieval Franciscan thought is uncontested: for generations, the influence of late-13th and 14th century Franciscans on the development of modern thought has been celebrated by some and loathed by others. However, the legacy of early Franciscan thought, as it developed in the first generation of Franciscan thinkers who worked at the recently-founded University of Paris in the first half of the 13th century, is a virtually foreign concept in the relevant scholarship. The reason for this is that early Franciscans are widely regarded as mere codifiers and perpetrators of the earlier medieval, largely Augustinian, tradition, from which later Franciscans supposedly departed. In this study, leading scholars of both periods in the Franciscan intellectual tradition join forces to highlight the continuity between early and late Franciscan thinkers which is often overlooked by those who emphasize their discrepancies in terms of methodology and sources. At the same time, the contributors seek to paint a more nuanced picture of the tradition’s legacy to Western thought, highlighting aspects of it that were passed down for generations to follow as well as the extremely different contexts and ends for which originally Franciscan ideas came to be employed in later medieval and modern thought.

Contents [delete if appropriate]. Frontmatter --; Contents --; Acknowledgements --; A Guide to Citing the Summa Halensis --; Abbreviations --; Introduction --; Part I: Philosophy and Theology --; The Creation of Matter in the Summa Halensis --; The Soul-Body Union in the Summa Halensis --; The Summa Halensis on Theology and the Sciences: The Influence of Aristotle and Avicenna --; On Divine Immensity and Infinity in Relation to Space and Time: The Crossroad of the Summa Halensis --; Providence in the Summa Halensis: Between Authority and Innovation --; Suspended Beauty? The Mystery of Aesthetic Experience in the Summa Halensis --; Free Will in the Summa Halensis --; Odo Rigaldus at the University of Paris (c.1220–48) --; The Talmud in the Summa Halensis --; Part II: The Legacy of the Summa Halensis --; It’s Not Just about Anselm: Aquinas’ ST Ia, q. 2, ar. 1 and Early Franciscan Illumination Theory --; The Possible and the Impossible: Potentia absoluta and potentia ordinata Under Close Scrutiny --; The Metaphysics of the Incarnation in the Summa Halensis and its Place in the Later History of Christology --; The Passions of the Will and the Passion of Christ in Franciscan Theology from the Summa Halensis to Duns Scotus --; Franciscan Identity, Poverty and the Rational Will: From Summa Halensis to John Duns Scotus --; What is Later Franciscan Theology? Ockham and the Early Franciscans --; Intellectus agens triplex distinguitur: Early Franciscans and Avicenna in Petrus Hispanus’ Theory of the Agent Intellect in the Scientia libri de anima --; Alexander of Hales in the Book of Conformities of Bartholomew of Pisa --; Gabriel Biel and the Summa Halensis --; The Reception of the Summa Halensis in the Manuscript Tradition until 1450 --; Science, Philosophy and the Authority of the Early Franciscan Summa Halensis: Learning from the Past for the Sake of the Future --; Contributor Biographies --; Index