If you consider the communal and almost monastic lifestyle of the Amish of modern times, and the pacificism of contemporary Anabaptists some of this history may be disturbing. More familiar would be the words and descriptions of St Francis' and his followers below. "If we had any possessions we should need weapons and laws to defend them." -St. Francis of Assisi "Possessing … [Read more...]
The Onion, The Middle-Class, and the Suppression of the Spiritual Franciscans
"one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." - Jesus (Lk. 12:15) This post was inspired by a story I read from the Onion today that was incredibly accurate in its satire. Every time I meet someone I know in the streets or see a person at a party, the question that almost immediately arises is "where are you working?" For Anglo-Americans work is a … [Read more...]
The Theology of the Cross in the Lives of (Bl.) Martin Luther & St. Francis
Martin Luther taught in his Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, that there were two ways of doing theology. The first was the 'theology of glory'. It meant using human reason to mix philosophy and theology into a clean system whereby God aided man in his natural striving for the good. It was a theology that made sense, and was optimistic about man's intellectual and moral … [Read more...]