Francis Of Assisi Movement Maker

St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan Movement breathed new life into the church in his day and in the centuries since. Yet his movement soon split into clashing branches. What went wrong? Looking at Francis differently--as organizer, not just saint--opens new windows of understanding. This book examines the way Francis put together his movement. The ways he did and did not lead. It shows why the Lesser Brothers multiplied so quickly, crossing multiple cultural barriers, on into Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It also highlights their conflicts and why they fragmented. It is impossible to understand the Franciscan movement however without understanding Francis himself. So the book begins with Francis's life, conversion, mission, and also his health issues, highlighting aspects of the story not typically found in most Francis's biographies. It identifies aspects of the story that illuminate movement dynamics. This atypical approach offers insights for today's church, its role in culture, and the stewardship and healing of the earth.

"I recommend this book strongly to anyone serious about understanding Francis of Assisi. I admire the clarity and brevity of the writing. With decisiveness, Thompson cuts through the conflicting medieval accounts of each event in Francis' life, adjusts for the hagiographers' spin and creates a credible chronology out of the blurry dates. His knowledge of medieval Italy allows him to provide insightful explanations of the legal, liturgical, and ecclesiastical practices of the time."—Paul Moses, America Among the most beloved saints in the Catholic tradition, Francis of Assisi (c. 1181–1226) is popularly remembered for his dedication to poverty, his love of animals and nature, and his desire to follow perfectly the teachings and example of Christ. During his lifetime and after his death, followers collected, for their own purposes, numerous stories, anecdotes, and reports about Francis. As a result, the man himself and his own concerns became lost in legend. In this authoritative and engaging new biography, Augustine Thompson, O.P., sifts through the surviving evidence for the life of Francis using modern historical methods. The result is a complex yet sympathetic portrait of the man and the saint. Francis emerges from this account as very much a typical thirteenth-century Italian layman, but one who, when faced with unexpected crises in his personal life, made decisions so radical that they challenge his own society—and ours. Unlike the saint of legend, this Francis never had a unique divine inspiration to provide him with rules for following the teachings of Jesus. Rather, he spent his life reacting to unexpected challenges, before which he often found himself unprepared and uncertain. The Francis who emerges here is both more complex and more conflicted than that of older biographies. His famed devotion to poverty is found to be more nuanced than expected, perhaps not even his principal spiritual concern. Thompson revisits events small and large in Francis's life, including his troubled relations with his father, his contacts with Clare of Assisi, his encounter with the Muslim sultan, and his receiving the Stigmata, to uncover the man behind the legends and popular images. A tour de force of historical research and biographical writing, Francis of Assisi: A New Biography is divided into two complementary parts—a stand alone biographical narrative and a close, annotated examination of the historical sources about Francis. Taken together, the narrative and the survey of the sources provide a much-needed fresh perspective on this iconic figure. "As I have worked on this biography," Thompson writes, "my respect for Francis and his vision has increased, and I hope that this book will speak to modern people, believers and unbelievers alike, and that the Francis I have come to know will have something to say to them today."

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Throne-Makers" by William Roscoe Thayer. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

In this new biography of St. Francis, Cunningham follows the saint's life in chronological order, placing him within his culture, exploring official developments within the Catholic Church, and highlighting the many conversions of Francis as his life played out.

Christians want to make a difference, but sometimes the ministry bar is raised so high that only those who are "go-getters" can do it. Mission work can look like a drastic life change, unattainable to those who aren't in full-time ministry. So the average church member is left without a mission. Pastor and author M. Scott Boren shows how ordinary Christians can make a huge impact through their everyday lives. Boren teaches church members how to make a difference for God where they are. At work. With friends. In the neighborhood. Mission work doesn't need to be a life-altering event. It can be simply living a life that honors Jesus and points others to him.

"New Makers of Modern Culture takes into full account the rise and fall of reputation and influence over the last twenty-five years and the epochal changes that have occurred: the demise of Marxism and the collapse of the Soviet Union; the rise and fall of postmodernism; the eruption of Islamic fundamentalism; the triumph of the Internet. Containing over eight hundred essay-style entries, and covering the period from 1850 to the present, New Makers includes artists, writers, dramatists, architects, philosophers, anthropologists, scientists, sociologists, major political figures, composers, film-makers and many other culturally significant individuals and is thoroughly international in its purview. With its global reach, New Makers of Modern Culture provides a multi-voiced witness of the contemporary thinking world. The entries carry short bibliographies and there is thorough cross-referencing. There is an index of names and key terms."--Publisher's description