Böcker av Andre Vauchez

Defining spirituality as 'the dynamic unity between the content of a faith and the way in which it is lived by historically determined human beings', Vauchez steps outside the clerical world usually studied to trace the religious mentality of the laity, the ordinary and often illiterate majority of Christians.

This volume features 22 essays on the medieval European Catholic Church: the emergence of the laity within the church from the 11th to the 13th centuries, religion in concept and practice, women's choice, and mystics.

A biography of the saint as both mystic and man: ';The single best book about Francis now available in English' (Commonweal). In this towering work, Andre Vauchez draws on the vast body of scholarship on Francis of Assisi, particularly the important research of recent decades, to create a complete and engaging portrait of the saint. He also explores how the memory of Francis was shaped by contemporaries who recollected him in their writings, and completes the book by setting ';il Poverello' in the context of his time, bringing to light what was new, surprising, and even astonishing in the life and vision of this man. The first part of the book is a fascinating reconstruction of Francis's life and work. The second and third parts deal with the textshagiographies, chronicles, sermons, personal testimonies, etc.of writers who recorded aspects of Francis's life and movement as they remembered them, and used those remembrances to construct a portrait of Francis relevant to their concerns. Finally, Vauchez explores those aspects of Francis's life, personality, and spiritual vision that were unique to him, including his experience of God, his approach to nature, his understanding and use of Scripture, and his impact on culture as well as culture's impact on him. ';Considered one of the great spiritual leaders of humankind, Francis of Assisi was also a man of many faces and personas: ascetic, the founder of a religious order, a romantic hero, a mystic, a defender of the poor, a promoter of peace. But as Vauchez emphasizesand this biography constantly reminds usFrancis was also a flesh-and-blood human being... A bracing, erudite account of a mystic's life.' Booklist