Roger Bacon is one of the most remarkably elusive-figures in the intellectual history of the thirteenth century. The range of his writings, the quality of his scientific experiments, the incorporation of the newly-recovered Aristotelian materials into his lectures in the faculty of arts, his probing criticism of the contemporary schools and their procedures, the freshness of his approach towards the Crusades and the contemporary Church's missionary drive have all attracted attention. While he was sometimes presented as an acerbic critic of his confrères such as Alexander of Hales and Richard Rufus of Cornwall, he warmly commended the preaching of Berthold of Regensburg and he was fascinated by the travels of John of Plano Carpini and William Rubruck. He was not necessarily an unfailingly agreeable companion in the refectory as he listened impatiently to the loose explanations accepted by some friars, such as the belief that Innocent IV lost his speech on the day that he imposed liturgical restrictions on the friars' liturgical permissions (58). In contrast, he waxes lyrical about the scholastic contribution of Master Robert Grosseteste whose theological breadth laid the foundations for the intellectual tradition of the Greyfriars of Oxford. The master's approach was informed by a strong scientific background which became one of the hallmarks of the school and distinguished it from the school of the Cordeliers of Paris. Adam Marsh, too, was singled out as a scholar in the Grosseteste mould. His scholarly prowess was celebrated and he was sometimes yoked with Thomas of Wales, the fourth regent master at Oxford, who subsequently became bishop of St. David's. These scholars were immersed in the study of the sacred languages and the sciences. He was familiar with the great events in Paris, the scholastic exchanges in the intellectual centre of the western church, such as the construction of Louis IX's La Sainte Chapelle and the disturbance caused by the Pastoureaux whose leader he saw walking barefooted in the streets of the capital city and surrounded by a multitude of men in 1251.

This new monograph by Dr. Amanda Power, a lecturer in medieval history at the University of Sheffield, offers a fresh and unified picture of this friar's life and thought. The introduction reviews the way in which Bacon has been presented in the last century. From the outset the author announces her intention of redressing what she regards as an imbalance in the way that Bacon had been treated and she believes that his Franciscan vocation holds the key to his complex thought and body of writings (2, 26, 164). The first chapter offers a context for the development of Bacon's scholastic interests. His knowledge of Hebrew may have been acquired from the Jewish community in the market town of Oxford; he was proficient enough to teach the language. He was lecturing at Paris in the faculty of arts towards the middle of the 1240s. His decision to become a friar in the next decade is explained within the contemporary concerns of the order, which was passing through a period of appraisal. The author rejects the hypothesis that Bacon was a solitary scholar and she shows that Parisian friars knew and cited his work not infrequently, among them Matthew of Acquaparta, William de la Mare and John Pecham (72–73). The second chapter deals with Bacon's quest for intellectual honesty and his rebuke addressed to those who diminished this. Among those who incurred his ire were careless scribes, defective translators and theologians insufficiently formed in the arts. His sharpest condemnation was reserved for those at work on the revision of the Parisian Bible; even the members of the two main mendicant orders did not escape his criticism. Bacon lamented that the commission on this project neglected to consult the oldest manuscripts (99–102). The frustrations of Bacon's reliance upon the patronage of Clement IV (1265–1268) are fully acknowledged by the author, who recognizes the difficulties under which the friar labored. Although standards of clerical education were rising in the thirteenth century, its culture was deemed too Latinate for the liking of Bacon, who complained that the church experienced increasing difficulties in communicating with people outside its fold. Friars working beyond Western Christendom were reduced to preaching through interpreters. Similarly, the irenic initiatives of Louis IX were undermined by priests who were not properly conversant with Arabic. This was an issue with immense ramifications for the Western Church's missionary endeavor. Thus, Bacon exhorted the clergy to adopt a more professional attitude towards the matter of conversions; a new emphasis was to be placed on the work of persuasion rather than coercion.

The third chapter, “from the world to God”, explores some traditional themes such as renunciation of the world. The friar, like the philosopher, was a single-minded individual, a point which is well illustrated by John's Pecham's use of a quotation from Seneca. This is a fine monograph of which the author is to be rightly proud. Her arguments are clear and cogent; they quietly buttress the principles of her approach. It is a good and objective account that makes ample use of illustrative quotations to explain the thought of one of the exceptional minds of the thirteenth century. There are minor flaws, such as “administering the Mass” (181). Dr. Patrick Zutshi's name should be restored as the co-author of the article on an early copy of the admonitions of St. Francis (56n114 and 293).