If one would like to study prayer as a historical concept, the major difficulty would be to uncover the primary material. Apart from the public prayers offered during sacraments, the majority of the medieval Christian pious would be unlikely to write down their prayers, which are most commonly understood to be a personal communication between themselves and God, unless they were artistically inspired, or intending to educate the young. Viewed from this point, the present volume is a considerable achievement in itself. A large volume of collected essays featuring sixteen contributors from a variety of disciplines spanning art history to theology, Franciscans at Prayer reveals the many distinct literary forms of prayer, and many others through which prayer can be studied as a historical concept. Thus, while Alessandro Vettori finds a sui generis form of prayer in the musical Laude of the Franciscan mystic of Jacopone of Todi, Mary Beth Ingham examines the highly complex philosophical text of John Duns Scotus, Tractatus de Primo Principio, in a fascinating essay. In fact, in the very first essay in the collection, Michael W. Blastic argues that the life of Francis and the early brothers was itself a prayer (29).

Accordingly, as an inevitable result of the unconventionally diverse choice of material, the contributors use varied interpretations of what constitutes “prayer.” The inclusion of a variety of topics in the volume of essays makes it clear that here prayer is often not used in its dictionary sense, but rather to encompass any kind of communication or interaction between God and the individual, be it by way of a public sacramental ritual or quiet contemplation, almost replacing the term “worship.” It would be interesting to investigate whether this is a medieval or a modern phenomenon. Edward Foley, for example, examines the entire liturgical activity of the medieval Franciscan Order (he mainly concentrates on Eucharist and Divine office) under the all-telling title “Franciscan Liturgical Prayer.” Similarly, Jay M. Hammond studies Bonaventure's famous Collationes in Hexaemeron as a “premier example of the medieval activity of contemplative reading” that Bonaventure wished the Franciscan community at Paris to emulate (165).

Quite an interesting article in the collection is Louisa A. Burnham's study of a condemned group of French beguines associated with the Franciscans, who were gathering at night to talk about God. Burnham argues that “though certain elements of their theology … were not avowedly orthodox, … their prayer and pious practices … were more in line with their more orthodox contemporaries, and actually provide us with a significant window into the lives of the conventionally pious of the fourteenth century” (252). As such, the essay raises questions concerning the link between doctrine and prayer.

Doubtless, Franciscans at Prayer is a most welcome contribution to those interested in medieval spirituality in general. It is of special interest to scholars of things Franciscan, who will find a wealth of material illuminating the lesser-known inner world of the Franciscan pious, which is used in its largest sense as encompassing all three Orders plus beguines, Capuchins, Damianites, and others (vii). Essays have been grouped under five titles. Three essays under “Early Witnesses” investigate the prayer with regard to St. Francis, St. Clare, and the early brothers; “Contemplation and Academy” involves two essays concerning Bonaventure and one about John Duns Scotus; four essays under “Mysticism, Orthodoxy and Polemics” concern the famous Franciscan mystics Angela of Foligno and Jacopone of Todi, followed by beguins and medieval approaches to prayer in other religions through the works of fifteenth-century friar Alonso de Espina. Essays in the last two groups seemed to have less in common with each other, as “Portals to the Sacred” features essays on Franciscan hermitages, the Tree of Life fresco in Santa Croce, Florence, and images of prayer in the Upper Church of San Francesco, Assisi. The last three essays under “Traditions in Time” examine early Franciscan liturgy, Franciscan pedagogy of prayer, and contemplative tradition among Iberian Franciscans.

One of the best features of this volume is that each contributor offers a conclusion at the end of his or her essay that presents the reader with a summary of major arguments. A substantial index of subjects and names at the end is, no doubt, a very useful tool. What would be desirable is an attempt to put Franciscan prayer in its medieval context. If the reader would like to know whether Franciscans differed in any way from the lay religious or other mendicant orders in their praying practices, the answer is not to be found anywhere in this book. The inclusion of a group of essays treating medieval prayer practices in general would have been an invaluable addition. The editor of the volume, Timothy J. Johnson, stresses in the introduction that he does not believe “that ‘Franciscan prayer’ as a specific category of spirituality existed in the Middle Ages … but only Franciscans at prayer” (vii). Although I would be inclined to agree with Professor Johnson, still it would have been interesting to see the justification for this belief laid out in a volume dedicated to the subject. As such, the volume could have profited from the addition of a conclusive chapter attempting to trace commonalities in the praying practices of the diverse groups of religious comprising the Franciscan family (Poor Clares, mystics, academics, etc.). Still, such desiderata do not diminish the value of the significant contribution the volume makes to the study of medieval and Franciscan spirituality. It furthers our understanding of how the medieval pious experienced their relationship to God, and the ways in which they expressed it.