Thinking of the text from the Dies frae (S. Matthew, XXV, 40). It is also probable that this other Saint Francis, partly out of admiration for his illustrious compatriot of Assisi and partly from a compelling urge to be superlative in all things, chose the title in opposition to the Franciscans, the Fratres Minori, l who had previously adopted this style taken from Saint Matthew, XXIII, 8. The title "Minim" was confirmed in these words" ... eosque Eremitos Ordinis Minimorum Fratrum Eremitarum F. Francesci de Paula in posterum nuncupari," taken from the Papal Bull, Meritis religiosae vitae, of 26 February, 1493. The earliest reference to the Order in France is in a fragment preserved in the Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal called, La regle et vie de Frere Franfois, pauvre et humble hermite de Paule, laquelle donne a tous ses 2 freres voulant entrer et vivre en son ordre. The dating of this manuscript should be accepted with considerable reserve; it bears a clearly legible "1474," although it seems most unlikely that any reference to an Order occurred before the Bull of 1493 or that any Rule appeared in French before the Founder's visit to Louis XI in 1483. 3 The fame of Francis and his reputation as a "guerisseur" had reached the French court where Louis XI was sick and dying; the King summoned him to the chateau of Le Plessis-Ies-Tours, but it required the intervention of the Pope to make the hermit undertake the journey

This study of religion and violence “forces us to reexamine some of our most cherished self-images of modern liberal democratic societies” (Charles Taylor). Jean-Pierre Dupuy, prophet of what he calls “enlightened doomsaying,” has long warned that modern society is on a path to self-destruction. In this book, he pleads for a subversion of this crisis from within, arguing that it is our lopsided view of religion and reason that has set us on this course. In denial of our sacred origins and hubristically convinced of the powers of human reason, we cease to know our own limits: our disenchanted world leaves us defenseless against a headlong rush into the abyss of global warming, nuclear holocaust, and the other catastrophes that loom on our horizon. Reviving the religious anthropology of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Marcel Mauss and in dialogue with the work of René Girard, Dupuy shows that we must remember the world’s sacredness in order to keep human violence in check. A metaphysical and theological detective, he tracks the sacred in the very fields where human reason considers itself most free from everything it judges irrational: science, technology, economics, political and strategic thought. In making such claims, The Mark of the Sacred takes on religion bashers, secularists, and fundamentalists at once. Written by one of the deepest and most versatile thinkers of our time, it militates for a world where reason is no longer an enemy of faith. “The Mark of the Sacred is one of those rare books . . . which, in an enlightened well-organized state, should be printed and freely distributed in all schools!” —Slavoj Žižek

The present volume contains the papers read at the 54th Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense (July 27-29, 2005). The general theme of the meeting was "The Death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel". Part I is comprised of fourteen "Main Papers" delivered by invited speakers. It includes contributions on the sign of the cross (G. Van Belle), the narrative and theological significance of the death of Jesus (J. Frey), the interpretation of the passion in the farewell discourses (J. Zumstein), the characterisation of Pilate (R.A. Piper), a study of God, Jesus, Satan, and human agency (C.R. Koester), two studies on the Lamb of God (R. Bieringer and M. Gourgues), the Markan and Johannine theology of the Cross (U. Schnelle), the anticipations of the death of Jesus (J.-M. Sevrin), the commandment of love interpreted from the perspective of the cross (D. Senior), a diachronical approach to "the lifting up and glorification of the Son of Man" (M. de Boer), a study on tradition, history and theology of the death of Jesus (J. Painter), the meaning of the "laying down" of life in Jn 10,11 and Jn 15,13 (T. Soding), and the role of the Jews in 19,16 (L. Devillers). Part II, "Offered Papers", includes 38 papers with thematic readings or studies on specific passages of the Fourth Gospel.