In recent years, the encounter between Francis of Assisi and the Ayyubid Sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil has inspired many efforts to promote dialogue between Christians and Muslims. But theologically, is there a distinctively ‘Franciscan’ approach to Islam? This lecture turns back to the legacy of the French orientalist and Franciscan tertiary Louis Massignon (d. 1962), including three friars heavily influenced by their teacher: Jean-Mohammed Abd-el-Jalil (d. 1979), Giulio Basetti-Sani (d. 2001), and Martiniano Roncaglia (d. 2008). The lecture examines what role Francis of Assisi played in their theological vision, how these friars carried forward (or didn’t) some of Massignon’s seminal insights, and the relevance of this vision for the ongoing engagement of the Seraphic family with Muslims.
Jason Welle is Assistant Professor of Comparative Theology at Boston College (USA), where he has taught since 2023. He previously taught and served as Director of Studies at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome. His research interests include Islamic mysticism; Muslim-Christian relations, particularly in the medieval period; the Franciscan intellectual tradition; and he is currently at work on a monograph examining Franciscan engagement with Muslims. He is the author of Companionship and Virtue in Classical Sufism: the Contribution of al-Sulamī (I.B. Tauris, 2024).