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St. Bonaventure's Commentary on Luke's Gospel

Thirty Days of Reflection and Prayer

Robert J. Karris

9781576595053
72 pages
The Franciscan Institute
Overview
Bonaventure has many insights to share not only with members of the Franciscan Family, but also with the church at large. From his work on translating and annotating St. Bonaventure’s three-volume Commentary on Luke’s Gospel, noted Scripture scholar Robert Karris has developed this book of reflections for thirty days. Playfully referring to them as “BonaLuke bites,” Karris gives preferential treatment to those passages used in the Sunday lectionary during Cycle C. A user-friendly format begins with the passages from Luke’s Gospel followed by Bonaventure’s commentary on one or two verses under consideration. Karris’s reflection follows that of Bonaventure and concludes with a prayer. Some readers may reverse the process as they are meant as springboards for the readers’ own reflections and prayer. Today Lukan scholars acknowledge many “Franciscan” themes in Luke’s Gospel. Members of the Franciscan Family will enjoy reacquainting themselves with the charism through the lens of Luke’s Gospel. Perhaps preachers will find that old interpretations are new again and can sparkle because Bonaventure has singled out the very best from tradition to challenge our normal way of interpreting passages familiar through years of liturgical use.
Author Bio
Robert J. Karris, OFM, ThD, is a Franciscan priest of the Sacred Heart Province whose headquarters are in St. Louis. He earned an STL from Catholic University of America and a Th.D. from Harvard University in New Testament and Early Church History. Fr. Karris is a former professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a former Provincial Minister of Sacred Heart Province and General Councilor of the Order of Friars Minor. Currently, he is research professor at The Franciscan Institute of St. Bonaventure University. He has been widely published and his most recent New Testament books are, John: Stories of the Word and Faith and Eating Your Way through Luke’s Gospel. He is a past president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America and for the last four years he has preached in over 190 churches in the United States on behalf of the poor served by Food for the Poor. He is general editor of the 15-volume Works of St. Bonaventure series published by Franciscan Institute Publications. Among other books with Franciscan Institute Publications, Fr. Karris has written The Admonitions of St. Francis: Sources and Meanings and has translated and edited several including, Defense of the Mendicants (translated by Karris and Jose de Vinck), Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection (translated by Karris and Thomas Reist, OFM), Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Gospel of John (edited by Karris), Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (edited by Karris), Bonaventure’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes (edited by Karris and Campion Murray, OFM), In the Name of St. Francis: A History of the Friars Minor and Franciscanism Until the Early Sixteenth Century (by Gordo Giovanni Merlo, translated by Karris and Raphael Bonnano, OFM).