The Cambridge Companion to Francis of Assisi. Edited by Michael J. P. Robson. Cambridge Companions to Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. xvii + 305 pp. $90.00 cloth; $29.99 paper.

Abstract

is probably the least "surprising, astonishing, fascinating" (Vauchez's book description) reconstruction of Francis's life, work, and heritage. The collection presents Francis neither as "real," as Thompson does in his portrait of a complex and conflicting personality, nor as "constructed," as Vauchez does in his cautious approach to the lived reality of this "selfrevealing" saint. It is, nevertheless, as "authoritative" (Thompson) and "engaging" (Vauchez) as these two major publications, paying attention to both Francis's own writings and the historical context of his life and afterlife. The book consists of two parts. In the first, on "Francis of Assisi," the authors deal with Francis's life and works: the origins of his movement (Michael F. Cusato), his writings (Michael J. P. Robson; William J. Short), the hagiographic and historiographic tradition (Michael Blastic; Annette Kehnel), his attitude toward learning and nature (Neslihan Şenocak, Johnson), the emergence of the Second Order (Jean François Godet-Calogeras), and his