New book on Franciscan ethics: radical, appealing and applicable
The Franciscan Institute has published the volume "Morality as Goodness-in-Relationship," which expands on the Franciscan principles of goodness, conversion, relationality and exemplarity. The book comes ten years after the publication of the seminal work on Franciscan ethics, "The Franciscan Moral Vision." The new volume was edited by Dr. Krijn Pansters of the Franciscan Study Center at Tilburg University and Fr. David Couturier, O.F.M. Cap., director of the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University.
The book is the result of an academic conference on Franciscan ethics held by St. Bonaventure University in 2020, attended by more than one hundred scholars and practitioners. It contains a collection of articles that explore the theological, sociological and historical challenges to a more relational focus of contemporary ethics.
Radical, applicable, engaging ethics
In his introduction to the volume, Pansters speaks of the importance of a more "relational methodology" for the practice of ethics in the 21st century. "This 'relational methodology' constituting a 'lesser ethics,' Franciscan ethics, must reflect a Franciscan ethical approach that is first of all radical and unique, thereby also well tested in the moral practice of many generations, and finally attractive and applicable in ever new contexts. It will have to be able to contribute to a deconstruction - a deconstruction not of the devotional discourses of living spiritualities, but of the power-based narratives of ruling ideologies."
To deepen the development of this new relational methodology in Franciscan ethics, Couturier and Pansters are organizing a two-day Zoom seminar on "The New Franciscan Moral Vision: A Seminar on Franciscan Ethics" from June 28 to July 1, 2023. This international gathering, open to all, will explore the process by which scholars arrived at this new Franciscan moral vision and the insights gained from the international dialogue on Franciscan ethics in the 21st century.
More information
You can register here .
The book is available here: franciscanpublications.