Science and Faith: A new Cosmic view of the Franciscans
Have you been put off having a Christian faith because of the actions of those in the Church or because of thinking you cannot have faith because it seems to conflict with the science of today?
Are you concerned about the often selfish and tribal world we live in and looking for hope about a better way of life for yourself and society?
Discover a new and relevant Christian theology and spiritual way of life for today’s world. The Franciscans and modern thought about the Big Bang and evolving Cosmos in which we live.
If you like what you read here, a book that expands on the Website topics is available from Amazon (Kindle and Paperback). You can also read individual chapters online with Kindle Unlimited and get a PDF from Spotify
In addition the book is available through online bookshops in hard copy and paperback
Booktopia, Barns and Noble, Readings, Books a Million, Blackwells, Fishpond, Google books, Abe Books , Biblio, Walmart, Adlibris, Waterstones
Cosmic Franciscans: Duns Scotus, Bonaventure and Evolving World
ISBN 9798896694465 and 9798896694458
This is a unique combination of Franciscan theology and foundations for a Franciscan inspired way of Christian living. It also makes connections between the Franciscans, Cosmic and Evolutionary Science and with added inspirations from Paul Tillich, Karl Rahner, Jurgen Moltmann, Teillhard de Chardin, Orthodox theology and others
This book is not just about theology, the book is also about a way of devotion, and action, with meditation and prayers at the end of each chapter.
More about my book at
Cosmic Franciscans https://www.cosmicscotus.com/my-book/
Franciscan Jubilee
In this year 2026 I share with Franciscans worldwide the 800th anniversary of death of St Francis of Assisi and honour the spiritual and theological legacy to the Church that flowed from his life and teachings in his following of Christ in poverty and love. This is the legacy in which Duns Scotus, Bonaventure and Ockham were immersed in their own lives and teaching. It is a great legacy given to the worldwide Church and relevant to our personal and social lives and spiritual values that should shape our politics and deserves to be known more widely and be an inspiration for modern living of the gospel.
No other Users
Please note for reasons of site security this is a read-only website and does not allow other logins. Unauthorised access is blocked. If you wish to contact me please see my contact information on About Me. Contact
https://www.cosmicscotus.com/about-me/
What’s New? (Apr 2026)
Enjoyment of God according to Duns Scotus, William Ockham, Bonaventure , Paul Tillich and Karl Rahner
https://www.cosmicscotus.com/enjoyment-of-god/
Confessions of an Evolution minded Anglican Franciscan
A Franciscan view of the world in the light of a Big Bang Cosmos and Evolution
We need to have a Christian beliefs today that can connect with the view of the evolved earth and long, developing cosmos of billions of years past and still to come, as we now know it now in comparison to the past traditions. In particular, we need to see ourselves as evolved and developing beings who are in need of direction for the future of our lives and societies.
Franciscan: Inspired by the great Franciscan teachers Duns Scotus, Bonaventure and William of Ockham
This site and my book is mainly about some of their writings and theological themes and the spiritual principles and values that flow from their legacy and are still so very relevant and needed in our modern world. The way we think about God , our selves and the varied societies in which we live.
Ecumenical: We need a more united Church
The history of the divisions of the Church from politics and dogmas means the Church speaks with a conflicting and rival voices. Yet if we examine our different theological traditions with charity we can find complementary things upon which we can agree and find a common voice to speak to the world. Despite our great historic variances in traditions and theology we can find common vision and actions together in the world for Christ today for the good of society and the Kingdom of Christ.
Existential Theology. Understanding our being and purpose
In contrast to the fundamentalist Creationists, we need to think of our past and present existence as evolved beings and our divinely intended destiny that we should be moving towards. We can take note of Existential theologians that cause us to think about who we are and what we do and experience. All beliefs and actions today as Christians should be about how we are now and what we should become in union with Christ and how we may have a personal influence in our society and world in which we live for the good. We recognise the corruption of relationships worldwide in individuals and institutions that breed injustice, conflicts and global environmental damage and our need to change and be part of the struggle for what is right.
Ecological theology and our global relationships
The interconnected life from evolved origins from God means there is a global dignity for every person and all forms of life. There is today an increasing need to reconnect with nature and wildlife with the protection of the environment from human selfish misuse and exploitation. We need a Global Care attitude and be immersed in the love of nature as part of being immersed in Christ. We must be the Guardians of Life in Jesus’ name.
Website Introduction – Phase II
This is a project that started in 2013 examining the writings of Duns Scotus and St Bonaventure in the light of modern science and how much their traditional medieval Catholic view points can be adapted and still be a part of religion and science dialogue and part of a relevant Franciscan inspired spiritual life.
With the publication of my book I am now moving into a new phase of study and writing that will start to include some of the theology and philosophy of the controversial Franciscan William of Ockham. His whole approach to philosophy was novel. In addition to preaching and writing on theology and philosophy, he became a strong critic of papal use of power and the relations between Church and States and that criticism may have things today to say about today’s churches in relation to society. I aim to add posts on him in the coming months. I am also revising the whole site, editing and slimming down much the original content to summarises where it duplicates what is in the book. If you like what you find here I encourage you to buy the book.
As part of my conviction that we have the need of more ecumenical dialogue and agreements between churches my study of the Franciscans includes theological reflections and insights I have first had and then revised from Lutheran Existential theologian Paul Tillich and the evolutionary theology of Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Then also other writers including Catholics Karl Rahner and Ilia Delio, Reformed Jurgen Moltmann and Wolhart Pannenberg, Anglicans Charles Gore, Tom Wright and John Polkinghorne and Orthodox Kalistos Ware and Vladimir Lossky. A collection of material that I feel concurs with the Franciscans.
The postings are on the drop-down menus and are mainly essays and there is also some devotional material at the end of each essay.
Blog pages
There are also blogs of occasional articles and sermons and these will also continue.
Faith and Science. A crisis for faith?
The bible texts and much traditional theology in our churches comes from very different past world views to what we have today. So for many people today that can lead them to think of either giving up on traditional beliefs or rejecting scientific discoveries and theories that don’t seem to match a specific conservative or traditional perception of the biblical world and Christian revelation and teaching we have received from the past. This apparent tension and conflict between natural observation of world and received faith and traditions has been going on for centuries, often with defensive responses from various churches, challenging scientific theory and developments that did not or do not fit in with received views of the bible or historic developed doctrines. On the other hand there has also been the tendency of many in the scientific communities today trying to view the world on purely naturalist and rational grounds that tries to leave anything relating to the religious and divinity out of the picture altogether or relegate religion to the ethical and moral spheres of life.
It is because of this that my studies started because there does not need to be such a conflict. The original aims of the study and the website can be found here.
https://www.cosmicscotus.com/explorations/
Why my focus on the medieval Franciscan theologians?
In June 2003 I became a member of the Anglican Third Order of the Society of St Francis and as a result I heard and read about them and gained an interest in them. I have found in various places that in discussions about science and religion Thomas Aquinas is often invoked but rarely have Duns Scotus or Bonaventure been discussed and I have found that they have many relevant things to say to us. They were both great teachers in their generations and we should take note of their distinctive views and reflect on them for our own time and place.
I was also previously strongly influenced in my early years of faith journey by the Existential theology of Paul Tillich and the evolutionary views of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. From Tillich in particular I gained his concept of New Being and that means to me a view of an evolving and Spirit empowered transformation into New Humanity. From Teilhard de Chardin I have come to reflect on an original cosmic purpose focussed in the coming and future of Christ as the Final End Point of all things now existing.
I confess I am writing about Franciscans and all the other authors I use as a student rather than as an expert about any of them. My aim is not and cannot be a detailed account of everything they wrote. I also find that I have cause to modify what they wrote from my mixed Anglican perspective and new light of the world we know now. Critical reading of them at first sight may find a diversity of thought among them that seems incompatible. But in this study I have recorded things from them that appear to me to be complementary to each other and worthy of further consideration and investigation.
For further information about any of them you can find some short biographical details and further reading sources on the page
https://www.cosmicscotus.com/authors-and-sources/
My basic confession of an Evolving Franciscan Faith
God is the Holy and Blessed Trinity; Uncreated Being (Father), Word (Son) and Holy Spirit. A three-fold unity of “persons” , of the same essence as each other and hence united in that as One God. God is communal but united as one, who exists and loves and acts as one but in specific ways through who they specifically are.
That which is the Divine Word, from God and part of God, was joined to the human nature of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was and is The Christ, Origin and the Centre of the Cosmos. As the unity of divinity to humanity He is the apex of evolved life on earth. He is its future and all its meaning. He is the centre of a meaning for all of life. We will lack our ultimate meaning and purpose in life unless we refer to this revealed truth and seek to understand it and become participants in this hidden but ever true reality behind all apparent physical reality. We are and can be even more immersed in the activity of the Spirit who comes to dwell in us and lead us to our ultimate goal of union and transformation of our selves and our societies and indeed the whole cosmos in which we live. This is the basis of all relationships that are the best we can ever be.
The Cosmos and all life we know is from the Trinitarian God who has given it freedom to evolve and change with both great beauty but also the potential and reality of evil, suffering and physical death.
We evolved from social yet tribal animals. We have great rationality, intelligence and the capacity for Divine Love with unlimited loving. But we so often never reach our fullest and loving potential that God desires us to have. We frequently remain tribal and selfish, never being our divinely intended selves and so we need the rescue that God has already made present in Jesus Christ. In unity with Christ we have the best potential for new society relations.
In a world of natural and climatic catastrophe, and with ethnic, religious and civil conflicts, we must transcend our evolved tribal past and selfish tendencies to become a New Humanity in thought and deed. We must become the New Humanity that our Saviour and Exemplar Jesus shows us, enables us and desires us to become.