Franciscan Approaches to the Nativity course

Details to book here: https://www.sarum.ac.uk/short-courses/franciscan-approaches-to-the-nativity/

Although not the first to physically recreate the Christmas crib, Francis of Assisi’s performance of the Nativity at Greccio in 1223 is one of the most famous episodes in the saint’s life and greatly influences our tradition of recreating the manger scene.

Francis of Assisi is often said to have been devoted to the life of Christ from Crib to Cross, but most of our attention is given to the latter.

This course considers what we can learn from Francis and his followers about the Nativity. We will begin by looking at the different depictions of the Greccio episode in the early biographies of Francis and in artwork such as that by Giotto. We will then consider what Francis’s early followers, most notably Bonaventure, wrote about the Nativity in a range of different genres and its significance for our understanding of the Incarnation and the Virgin Mary, and then ask what these figures and more recent Franciscans might teach us in our understanding of the Nativity today.

You may also like the following events from Sarum College:

• This Monday, 17th November, 02:00 pm, Spirituality, Health and Wellbeing: Spiritual Development in Context in Salisbury
• This Thursday, 20th November, 12:00 pm, Theology Catch Up: What, How and Why We Believe course in Salisbury, Wiltshire
• Next Wednesday, 26th November, 10:00 am, Touching God: Dementia and the Bodies of Christ in Salisbury

Also check out other Workshops in Jamestown.