St. Francis and the Foolishness of God by Marie Dennis, Joseph Nangle, O.F.M., Cynthia Moe-Lobeda et. al. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS341 of ill-gotten goods; treatments of means for resolving doubts, for overcoming vincible ignorance and arriving at moral certitude. There are also thorough and enlightening treatments of accomplished renaissance and modern ethicians: John Mair (Major) and William Perkins by James F. Keenan, Jeremy Taylor (an Anglican bishop who could pass as a nineteenth century Catholic manualist) by Richard B. Miller and Aloysius Sabetti by Charles E. Curran. Franco Mormando's analysis of Bernardine of Siena's preaching methods as structured by ratio, auctoritas, exempta is particularly fascinating where conscience or right reason is required for an enlightened free moral choice, helped by the 'vicarious experience' found in authority and law and made concrete and imitative by specific examples.3 The essays are illustrative of the theme and generally optimistic in tone, well balanced as to principle and practice, and supported by extensive documentation. The Franciscan InstiiuieGIRARD J. ETZKORN Professor Emeritus Marie Dennis, Joseph Nangle, O.F.M., Cynthia MoeLobeda , Stuart Taylor. St. Francis and the Foolishness of God. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993. 181pp. $10.95. The authors entitle their prologue to the text, "Why you, Francis? Why you?" One might rightly wonder why another book on Francis? The text arises out of a popular conversation among the authors exploring the significance of Francis of Assisi for contemporary culture. The result is a creative and enlightening dialog to which the reader is invited as a participant. The book is important for its approach. The facts and interpretations offered by the authors are not terribly new. However, the style of the book 'incidentally, there is a large corpus of medieval exemplata literature still in manuscript form which begs to be edited critically. The present reviewer is undertaking Marcus of Orvieto's Liber de moralitattbus, a moralization for preachers, which "takes off from Bartholomew of England's Deproprietatibus rerum. 342BOOK REVIEWS allows one to feel a part of the conversation. Thus, the text meets the goals of its authors. The text is meant to be formative. That is, in retelling the stories of Francis and his understanding of the story of Jesus, the authors intend to engage the reader's imagination that the stories may take hold of the reader in the way they have taken hold of the authors. As the introduction notes each chapter contains a series of questions to help the reader focus on their personal cultural history by way of journaling, reflections or discussion. The technique, as understood by the authors, comes as an expression of "narrative theology." This method recognizes that not only does a reader interpret the story, but it is the story that interprets the reader. As stories have the power to transform the imagination they can be truly formative in character. Formation, and particularly social transformation, depends upon an ongoing process of the dynamic engagement of "theological reflection, scriptural study, social analysis, reflection on personal history and experience, and active response" (p. 3). As one expects from any text published by Orbis the fundamental theological insights are those of liberation theology and the authors are very direct in identifying their theological foundation. They successfully present their reflections in the "circle of praxis," a careful reflection on social reality and action with the expressed purpose of transforming the social reality. As such the text has both the strengths and the limitations of the perspectives advanced by liberation theology. One could undoubtedly trace a number of different themes through the text. A theme that struck this author, however, was that of "accompaniment." Perhaps it is the freshness of the term which generates the attraction. The word is not overused in circles of theology and spirituality. The ideas conveyed by the authors' use of the term are not new, but the freshness of the term accompaniment enables one to look again at common themes at reappropriate them anew. This is part of the dynamic of narrative theology. The stories themselves have been heard time and again. The appropriation of the story, however, is always new. Tracing the theme of accompaniment leads one to recognize the book's exploration of Francis' relationship to the poor; the BOOK REVIEWS343 dynamic of community; the significance of friendship; and...