Priests and Their Books in Late Medieval Eichstätt. Matthew Wranovix. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017. xx + 222 pp. $95.
logian; Katherine Wrisley Shelby revisits Bonaventure’s theology of hierarchy to explain how he understood grace to relate the soul to God, one’s neighbor, and creation; and Laura Smit ponders the seraphic doctor’s appropriation of pagan and Christian conceptions of magnanimity and how he transformed it from a profoundly Christological point of departure. The two essays of part 3 center on the curious Book of Conformities of Bartolomew of Pisa. William Short indicates how Bartholomew explored both Franciscan and (pseudo-) Joachimist sources to construct his work, making a case for the author’s rather extensive library, which also incorporated suspect texts from spiritual circles. As a follow-up, Steven McMichael approaches this work from the author’s theology of resurrection, showing at once the importance of the text as a biography of Christ as well as a work on Francis, and the deep connection made between the resurrection of Christ and its impact on the life of the poverello, his most perfect disciple. Part 4 connects more openly with Wayne Hellmann’s contemporary societal concerns as inspired by his Franciscan outlook. John Kruse charts papal attitudes and responses to the medieval Franciscan poverty debates, and how these can shed light on present-day papal remarks on the articulation of doctrine. Finally, Joseph Chinnici evaluates how Franciscan poverty traditions can be interpreted as a social theory and a practice in partnership with others to develop alternative forms of economy and society. The overall quality of the essays is a testimony to the esteem the contributors must have for their colleague and mentor and make this volume a successful example within the festschrift genre, and one that will inspire many scholars of Franciscan life, its learning, and its impact.