The Mission of Franciscan University Press

Franciscan University Press publishes outstanding works of scholarship and artistry in the general areas of the intersection of science and faith, the intersection of philosophy and Christian theology, Catholic studies with an emphasis on Franciscanism, and biblical theology.

Crede, intellege, dilige.
These words express the heart of Franciscan University Press, for they sum up in many respects the aims of the Western intellectual tradition, and in a special manner the Franciscan strands of that tradition. Believe, understand, love. The books we publish, although not necessarily theological in nature, acknowledge faith as a source of understanding, expressed so well in St. Augustine’s pithy formula, crede ut intelligas, and St. Anselm’s adaptation of it, credo ut intelligam. Our aim is to make available outstanding works which can move our readers to deeper understanding. Understanding is its own end, but at the same time provides an invitation for those who possess it to move toward greater love for God and others.

Distributed in partnership with Catholic University of America Press

See Our Full Catalog
Regular Series

In addition to considering manuscripts in the more general areas of the intersection of science and faith, the intersection of philosophy and the Christian theology, Catholic studies with an emphasis on Franciscanism, and biblical theology, Franciscan University Press maintains three series.

Theandrites: Byzantine Philosophy and Christian Platonism

This is the frst book series focusing solely on philosophy in Byzantium and Christian Platonism (284–1453). This series encourages one to trace Platonic ideas and terminology as it moves through-out the Eastern Roman Empire and the Byzantine Orthodox world. Tis tradition is an essential part of the history of ideas since the Greek texts studied in the Syriac and Arabic worlds originated in the Greek speaking world during this time frame. Tus Syriac Christians and Arabic Muslims translated texts ofered to them by Byzantine scholars and philosophers from the IV century onwards. Te same is true during the Renaissance in Italy (XV century) when for the frst time since the fall of the West Roman Empire in 476, the Latin speaking world was given proper access to Greek Philosophy in the original language by Byzantine thinkers such as Bessarion (1403–1472) and George Gemistos Plethon (ca1355–1452/4). Series editors will consider monographs, edited volumes, and translations. Download our style guide here.

Send manuscripts to: [email protected]. Contact Frederick Lauritzen ([email protected]) or Sarah Klitenic Wear ([email protected]) with questions.

Religion and Society

Stephen M. Krason, JD, PhD, is the editor of the Religion and Society Series. He also serves Franciscan University as Chair of the Department of Humanities and Catholic Social Thought, Associate Director of the Veritas Center, and Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies.

The goal of this series is to examine the influence of religious considerations on the shaping of the many aspects of society, including marriage and the family, politics, law, economics, associational activity, institutional life, and social mores, and also explore the corresponding influence that social forces have on religious attitudes, practices, and institutions. Some works give particular attention to the role and activity of the Catholic Church and Catholics in society, and the way in which her witness and teachings can shape a just society and what St. John Paul II called a “civilization of love.”

To learn more about this series, contact Dr. Krason at [email protected], or 740-284-5343, or by mail at the university address.

Ex Corde Ecclesiae Mediaevalis

From the monk in the scriptorium to the friar and master in the studium to the bishop in his see, the medieval Church inspired countless authors to expound on God, the world, and salvation in Christ. The Franciscan University Press Medieval Series, Ex Corde Ecclesiae Mediaevalis, seeks to publish critical editions, translations, and monographs, especially those that illuminate the medieval diocese, classroom, and scriptorium, those that stand in the Franciscan tradition, and those that have the power to speak to the intellectual issues of our own time. Stephen Hildebrand, PhD, chair of the Franciscan University Theology Department for Franciscan University Press, also serves as the editor for this series.

Colosseum grey silhouette
Colosseum Books

A New Poetry Series from Franciscan University Press

Colosseum Books is an annual series of volumes of new poetry and poetry criticism that exhibit spiritual and intellectual depth and an understanding of verse as a craft guided by enduring tradition, metrical rigor, and a commitment to the well-made thing. Each Colosseum book will be published by the Franciscan University at Steubenville Press.

In the ancient world, the civilizational achievements of Rome were transformed and leavened by the spirit of Christianity. The Colosseum stood as a symbol of the struggle and suffering such a new birth entailed, but also of final victory and union, as Christendom emerged to take possession of the treasures of Athens and Jerusalem with Rome as its spiritual capital. In the modern age, the English writer Christopher Dawson edited the review Colosseum as a forum for the Catholic intellectual world to engage contemporary arts and culture. In its pages such great minds as Dawson, Jacques Maritain, and E.I. Watkin studied and discussed the literary achievement of T.S. Eliot, Sigrid Undset, and other writers of the Catholic literary revival and beyond.

In such a spirit of struggle and revival, transformation and synthesis, we propose to publish important new books by contemporary poets worthy of the serious reader’s attention. The volumes will be at once works of humility and ambition, of craft and spirit, by authors attentive to the workmanlike responsibilities of the artist and to the classical understanding of the fine arts as occasions of epiphany and beauty. They will remind us of the true scope of the intellect, the great drama of human life, the discipline and dedication of serious work, and the great destiny of the human person.

Authors are invited to send manuscripts here.

Manuscripts should include: a title page with author contact information, table of contents, and poems following, with each new poem starting a new page. A page of acknowledgments and author biography should be included at the end, as appropriate. Manuscripts normally may run from 50 to 100 pages. Manuscripts should be formatted in keeping with good grammar and prosody conventions. Our annual reading period runs from June-August; manuscripts submitted outside that timeframe will not be considered.

Colosseum Books expects to publish one new volume per year and to build a list that responds to the challenges of the hour and which reflects the beauty of the eternal.

Go to the Colosseum Institute Website
Information for Authors

How to submit your work

Franciscan University Press is happy to consider manuscript proposals. Your proposal should include the following:

  1. Completed Author’s Questionnaire (available for download here)
  2. The author’s resume or curriculum vitae
  3. No more than a five page description of the main argument of the manuscript and its intended audience.
  4. The table of contents of the manuscript
  5. The introduction or representative chapter of the manuscript.
  6. All materials and questions should be sent electronically to the Press at [email protected].

If the editors decide to have your manuscript peer reviewed, they will at that time request the full manuscript.

Information for Reviewers

Franciscan University Press is happy to receive requests from scholars interested in serving as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts. As a small token of appreciation for the service to the profession as serving as a manuscript reviewer, we do provide a small stipend. The Reader’s Report Form (available to download here) will give you a sense of what is entailed in writing a review.

Please contact the press at [email protected] if you are interested in serving as a peer reviewer.

Previous tab Next tab
null
Director
Dr. Sarah Wear
Dr. Sarah Wear

Professor of Classics

View Dr. Wear’s faculty page

Sarah Wear, PhD, is the current director of Franciscan University Press and is a professor of Classics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. The director is charged to work closely with the acquisitions editor to solicit manuscripts and find reviewers, to ensure that Franciscan University Press publishes only works of outstanding scholarly excellence, to maintain fidelity to the mission of the University, to administer the budget for the press, and to make final decisions on publications.

Editorial Committee

The editorial committee is composed of five Franciscan University faculty members, each of whom have a strong history of academic publishing, who, taken collectively, represent the areas of focus of the press. The editorial committee is charged with determining whether or not to submit to the director a recommendation to publish a submitted manuscript. To arrive at their recommendations, they weigh all available evidence including the outside reviews, the report of the acquisitions editor, and the manuscript itself.

Publications
Proteus Bound by Ryan WilsonProteus Bound: Selected Translations, 2008-2020

Ryan Wilson

The translations – or “conversions” – in this book make available to contemporary readers of English-language poetry a wealth of poems that belong to what T.S. Eliot called “the tradition.” From Homer, Sappho, and Archilochus to Catullus, Horace, and Virgil; from Dante, Villon, and Lope de Vega to Baudelaire, Rilke, and Pessoa; this book presents fresh versions of many of the best-loved poems in the Western European tradition in strikingly new versions, allowing readers without access to the originals the opportunity to possess, in some measure, both the sense and style of these monumental works.

Purchase

Plontinus, Neoplatonism & the Transcendence of the One_JHalfwassenPlontinus, Neoplatonism, and the Transcendence of the One

Jens Halfwassen, edited by Caro O’Brien

Plotinus (204-70) is the founder of Neoplatonism and its most significant thinker. He shaped late antique philosophy and significantly influenced the entire metaphysical tradition of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and German Idealism. In this volume, Jens Halfwassen presents Plotinus’ life and work, as well as the most important aspects of his historical influence. Issues of key importance for the Neoplatonists—such as the interaction between Being and Thought, the ascent of the soul, and the interpretation of Plato’s theory of principles—are explained in detail in the course of outlining the Neoplatonic metaphysical system. The introduction outlines Halfwassen’s significant contribution to the study of Plotinus, paying particular attention to the differences between the current German and Anglophone approaches to the Platonic tradition.

The introduction contextualizes Jens Halfwassen’s research within the German tradition, and outlines differences and points of contact between the study of Platonism and Neoplatonism in the German- and English-speaking worlds. While the first part (Plotinus and Neoplatonism) is a translation of the standard German introduction to Neoplatonism, the four research articles in the appendix discuss some of the more advanced metaphysical questions addressed by Plotinus. (As an introduction, this volume presupposes little prior knowledge of Neoplatonism but takes the reader to a more advanced level than competing volumes.)

Purchase

Killing in the Name of Healing
Confronting Medical Holocausts Past and Present

William Brennan

This book reveals how extensively the contemporary medical assaults on the unwanted unborn and vulnerable born bear a striking resemblance to the participation of health professionals in expediting the Nazi war against Jews, Gypsies, and others deemed superfluous. It provides indispensable contemporary and historical perspectives for challenging the deceptive justifications facilitating the draconian biomedical practices directed against today’s least visible and most vulnerable victims. The book thus contributes a compelling antidote to the corruption of technology, ideology, and terminology with an urgent call for mounting a full-scale physician’s crusade against the destruction of human lives before and after birth based upon the “do no harm” and healing imperatives embodied in the Hippocratic Oath’s sanctity of life moral core.

Purchase

The Colosseum Critical Introduction to Rhina P. Espaillat by Leslie MonsourThe Colosseum Critical Introduction to Rhina P. Espaillat

Leslie Monsour

This volume focuses on the life and work of Rhina P. Espaillat, an extraordinarily observant lyric poet who applies ideals of musicality, metaphor, and meaning to formally crafted verse that connects personal experience to universal themes.

Born in the Dominican Republic, Espaillat was seven years old when her family was granted political asylum in the United States during the brutal dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. She published her first poems in Ladies’ Home Journal at age fifteen, and after graduating from college went on to marry, teach, raise a family, and maintain a literary career spanning more than seven decades. Having cultivated a fluent and scholarly bilingualism throughout her life, Espaillat also became a gifted translator of works by numerous important poets of the Spanish- and English speaking worlds, including Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, St. John of the Cross, Robert Frost and Richard Wilbur.

Purchase

The Colosseum Critical Introduction to Dana Gioia by Matthew BrennanThe Colosseum Critical Introduction to Dana Gioia

Matthew Brennan

Dana Gioia stands out as one of the most important poets, critics, and defenders of the arts in our day. His advocacy of the renewal of rhyme and meter in poetry, his work as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and his recent efforts to strengthen the role of Catholic artists in American life have made a great impact on our public culture over four decades. Poet and scholar Matthew Brennan provides a thorough introduction to the life and work of this living classic of American poetry.

Purchase

The Face of the Lord: Contemplating the Divine Son through the Four Senses of Sacred Scripture by Steven C. SmithThe Face of the Lord: Contemplating the Divine Son through the Four Senses of Sacred Scripture

Steven C. Smith

Is it possible to “see God”? A close examination of the Bible suggests that answering this question is more complex—and interesting—than one might imagine. Following The Word of the Lord and The House of the Lord, this sweeping conclusion to Steven C. Smith’s trilogy asks whether it is possible to see God. After properly framing the question and citing scriptural examples, Smith takes the reader on an epic journey into the literal and spiritual meanings of biblical interpretation.

Smith’s thesis is that the multiplicity of “senses” is a pathway and progression toward the face of the Lord. He leads the reader through five Old Testament theophany scenes, beginning with the patriarch Jacob “wrestling” with God and concluding with Job’s contending with the Voice from the Whirlwind. These five encounters span all three parts of the Old Testament: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.

A tour de force much like Smith’s previous books, The Face of the Lord thoroughly examines each biblical episode from the standpoint of the Literal, Allegorical, Tropological (Moral), and Anagogical (Heavenly) senses. Smith engages all of the relevant literature—from ancient Jewish sources to Christian medieval masters to present-day theologians—without taking his eye off the central question: Can we see God? The result is a fresh, robust exploration of Sacred Scripture, drawing upon ancient, medieval, and contemporary exegesis in pursuit of this fascinating biblical question.

Purchase

Fundamental Rights and Conflicts among Rights edited by Mary Ann Glendon and Pierluca AzzaroFundamental Rights and Conflict among Rights

Edited by Mary Ann Glendon and Pierluca Azzaro

How far have we come putting into practice what was declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which this year marks its 70th anniversary? How can the Church respond today to the new challenges threatening these rights, whether relativism, fundamentalism, and persecution or new types of poverty and oppression? And with whom can the Church engage on these issues? With states, religious leaders, international institutions, cultural institutions, or first and foremost with global civil society? In addition, what are the roots of fundamental rights, and what response can there be to the danger of a multiplication of rights that can paradoxically threaten concepts on the rule of law and human dignity? These are the fundamental questions addressed and debated by the experts whose essays appear in this book.

Fundamental Rights and Conflicts among Rights is divided into four parts: Genesis and Meaning of the Idea of Religious Liberty, Laicité and Natural Law, Birth and Transformation of the Culture of Liberty and Human Rights, and the Multiplication of Rights and the Risk of Destruction of the Idea of Right. Throughout the volume, prestigious international experts analyze these issues. Among them are Giuseppe Dalla Torre (Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta), Jean Louis Ska (Pontificio Istituto Biblico), Robert P. George (Princeton University), Marta Cartabia (vice president of the Italian Constitutional Court), Carlos Ignacio Massini (Mendoza, Argentina), Barbara Zehnpfennig (Universität Passau), Mary Ann Glendon (Harvard University), Joseph H. Weiler (New York University), and Roberto Baratta (Macerata, Italia). The volume also contains an essay by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, on “The Church’s Interlocutors in the Debate and in the Affirmation of Human Rights.”

Purchase

The Harvest and the Lamp by Andrew FrisardiThe Harvest and the Lamp

Andrew Frisardi

The Harvest and the Lamp, the third volume of the Colosseum Books series, is a singular collection of poems in a wide variety of forms and voices. Author Andrew Frisardi writes on fundamental human themes such as love and desire, death and grief, the nature of the self and self-transcendence in a tone that ranges from serious to witty to exuberant.

The poems are often set in Italy, where Frisardi has lived for a number of years, drawing on natural or concrete imagery as well as the imaginal or symbolic. Frisardi composes in a number of forms: sonnet and sestina, triolet and ghazal, nonce forms and free verse, gracefully and with a fresh use of diction and rhyme. As the late poet-translator Brett Foster put it, “Andrew Frisardi’s [poems] are exquisitely made things, many angled and shining brightly. Ear, eye, and mind do their elegant, exact work.”

Purchase

Discerning Persons by Pia MatthewsDiscerning Persons
Profound Disability, the Early Church Fathers, and the Concept of the Person in Bioethics

Pia Matthews

Drawing on rich insights from the early Church Fathers, Discerning Persons addresses the neglected issue of disablism and how discriminatory attitudes fail to treat people with profound disabilities as persons. This discrimination can be found in the field of bioethics, where the stakes are often high and a matter of life or death. Whereas views that give priority to human beings whatever their capacities are seen as speciesist and so discriminatory, bioethical approaches that are disablist are rarely acknowledged as prejudiced. Many bioethicists do not even realize there is an issue. Current bioethical thinking appears uncritical and unreflective in the way it accepts a separation of the human being from the person and downgrades certain individuals who do not fulfill arbitrarily defined and insubstantial criteria for being persons.

Using neglected Patristic thinking and its analogies with the human person, abled and disabled, found in reflection on the image of God and in the Trinitarian and Christological disputes of the early centuries where person language originated, the book makes patristic thinking do important work. It establishes that there are no early historical, philosophical, or theological grounds for calling or treating human beings as anything less than persons. Nor is there foundation for defining the person purely in terms of individuality, rationality, autonomy, or self-consciousness. Patristic insights conclusively call us to be discerning persons: to realize that persons are not so much defined as discerned, and to discern that all human beings, whatever their situations or capacities, are unique and unrepeatable persons.

Purchase

Franciscan University of Steubenville - Seal LogoMore Franciscan University Press titles can be viewed here.