Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life (review)

John Ruskin wrote that all history is biography. In Lawrence Cunningham's Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life, the tables are turned, for his biography becomes both history and theology. This wonderful, brief synthesis of Francis life is comparable to Bonaventure's Souls Journey into God in that it condenses a lifetime of spirituality under a few core themes: Francis's conversion, companions, missionary activity, concern for creation, and stigmata and death.

Cunningham's Francis is a likeable figure with a flare for the dramatic. He brings Francis to life and plants him next door as our contemporary neighbor, a bit socially erratic, yet strangely magnetic. Neither his parents nor his friends are certain what to make of Francis. He manifests a mysterious quality from somewhere beyond this world. It is apparent from this biography of a larger-than-life saint that Cunningham has known Francis and the world of the sacred for quite some time. This is also evident in his historical sense of the medieval church.

Yet the strength of Francis of Assisi is in its theological perspective, which Cunningham identifies in the introductory chapter as his primary lens. Cunningham is most at home in Francis's theological world, one that Francis himself could scarcely name, but which Bonaventure described as a mystical journey. Cunningham draws us inside the world of Francis by observing his performances: the high drama when Francis turned away from his dissolute lifestyle in Assisi and shouldered the reform agenda of the Fourth Lateran Council. The ecclesial tenets of the council and synods were enacted when Francis and his early companions chose the Gospel as a new way of life. In opposition to the dreaded heretical movements of the Middle Ages, Francis battled to defend—like the knight he dreamed of becoming—the sacramental teaching of the church, especially regarding the Incarnation and the sacredness of all created things. Francis perceived the invisible God in the visible person of Jesus, lending spiritual eyes to those who were blind to the world beyond. Behind all Francis saw was the God in whom he believed and for whom he played his earthly role.

The scenes from Francis life are visual and memorable: his encounter with the leper, his meeting with Saint Dominic, the rigor of his journey to the Middle East to visit with the caliph, Malik-al-Kamil, the rejection of his rule as it poured from his heart and was revised to meet the juridical requirements of the church. From such roller-coaster episodes Francis escaped into moments, days, even months of contemplative prayer where he faced the drama of his human limitations. He imagined a way to draw others to his understanding of God's goodness, leading them to stand in awe before God who came on earth to live among us. He designed, produced, directed and engaged the townspeople of Greccio to enact that first Christmas in Bethlehem with its stable, manger, ox, donkey, and torches for lighting. As deacon, Francis chose to sing Luke's narration of the event. When Francis held the Christ child in his arms, some of the witnesses believed they saw the child awaken. Francis imaginative performance presented an incomprehensible mystery with such affection and tenderness that the scene of the Christmas crèche continues to be re-played with some modern representations still using living animals and a human infant. Such details are evidence of Francis emphasis on the concrete historicity of the gospel events, so that Francis's story becomes a mirror bringing God and Jesus as the living Word of God into time.

In the fifth of nine chapters, Cunningham addresses the authenticity of Francis stigmata, beginning with the historical question of what Francis actually experienced. The question stems from Francis's own time, and Cunningham's examination includes an account of the controversy surrounding the manuscript tradition of Brother Elias's circular letter announcing the death of Francis and revealing that his body carried...