In recent years the need for understanding between Christians and Muslims has reached a state of urgency. Dialogue between believers in the world's two largest faith traditions can no longer be relegated to antiquarians or to specialists in far-off, and hitherto exotic, places.From the time of the meeting of St. Francis with Sultan Melek-el-Kamil, a tradition of dialogue between the Muslim and Christian traditions, as epitomized in the Franciscan movement, has endured. This volume offers a set of essays that deal with the relationship between Islam and Franciscanism as experienced in the past and as it is presently being addressed.