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Interpretations of St. Francis of Assisi in the 20th Century: Philosophical-Anthropological Perspective*



Author(s)

Oleksandr Golozubov

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DOI:10.17265/2159-550X/2015.01.002

The article deals with investigating and comparing key modern and postmodern interpretations of St. Francis of Assisi from a philosophical-anthropological perspective. We determine these interpretations to be as follows: a man of wonder and lover of wisdom, in other words, a true philosopher; hero of all times; defender of the poverty and poor; “champion of liberty”; peace-maker and pacifist; God‟s troubadour; patron of nature and animals. All of these manifestations of St. Francis‟ personality have been enriched by his Christocentrism and joyful vision. Moreover, this can be traced in primary sources and also echoes in the late modern period. Postmodernity not only incorporated similar motives into the cultural space with new focus and accent, but it also put forward some new visions. St. Francis was postulated as God‟s Fool, not so much in the medieval as in the postmodern sense of foolishness and madness as a way of interaction with the absurd and puzzle-like world in which we live. It also reconciles traditional opposition between joy and laughter as inner feelings and outward emotions within the frame of the postmodern Divine Comedy.

modernity, postmodernity, St. Francis of Assisi