in honor of st. francis, whose feast day is today, i picked up my copy of lawrence s. cunningham's new book francis of assisi: performing the gospel life. boom! he does not mince words!
"this book will work against that view of francis that is most completely summed up by the ubiquity of those cast concrete garden statues of francis with a bird perched on the saint's shoulder found at everyone's local garden center. such an understanding of saint francis is coterminous with what i would call 'spirituality lite.'
instead of offering us another sentimental version of francis, or worse, a catching up of francis into some vague spiritual pantheon from which one draws 'inspiration,' cunningham has tried something quite fresh and lovely. it resonates with my own experience of franciscan brothers, and it ought to serve as one vision of how faith is lived as a way of life. "my basic stance," writes cunningham, "will be to read' francis through my theological eyeglasses to attempt to reach up to his vision of how to lead the gospel life."
one of my personal models for how to live the faith, pastor dan erlander, is visiting italy in a few weeks. i was talking to him on the phone, and i asked him if he was making a pilgrimage to st. peter's as did martin luther early in his life. dan immediately replied, "no, not rome. assisi." i should have guessed.
anon, and +peace
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