Paul M. Allen

Not a biography of St. Francis so much as an encounter by way of Rudolph Steiner and "The Canticle of the Creatures," this book is perhaps best read as a collection of fragments organized around a nature mysticism rooted in Franciscan spirituality. Readers looking for a linear argument-or Kantian rationality-will be sorely disappointed. Those who seek flashes of insight, including a "Western" mystical tradition that may help modern readers reconceive the liberal arts, will be richly rewarded. There is as much of Blake and Steiner here as of Francis-but that is an entirely appropriate way to encounter the humility of Francis at the heart of Franciscan spirituality.… (mer)