Joan of Arc: A Spiritual Biography (Lives & Legacies)

Rating:
Summary: A marvelous first book about Joan of Arc
Review: A relatively short biography -"Joan of Arc: A Spiritual Biography" by Siobhan Nash-Marshall is a marvelous first book for someone wanting to read about Joan of Arc. It is not as intimidating as some of the larger tomes. While reverential, it is not, as the title might suggest, unquestioning in its acceptance of a divine origin of Joan's mission. It is intelligent, entertaining and easy to read.

I am not a scholar but the book looks solidly researched and no errors jumped out at me. Ms. Nash-Marshall's theme is that Joan is a "questor". Her success was due to the extraordinarily intense focus she had on her mission to the exclusion of all else. Joan believed down to the very core of her being that her mission was from God and that her voices were of divine origin. The book is a good solid well-written account of what we know of Joan. The last chapter offers an intriguing premise I had not seen before. It first dealt with the question why it might be important to God for France to be a nation and to reinforce the divine origin of the French crown. This assumes Joan's mission was a success and God's plans for France and Europe generally came to pass.

As we all know Joan was betrayed. Perhaps small shortsighted men thwarted God's real plans. I think the book offers another interpretation of what God's plan might have been. The Hundred Years war drained much of the energy of Western Christendom to aid Constantinople. The author states: "The Hundred Years' War ended in the very same year that Constantinople fell. In 1453, one nation was saved and one perished." What if a France under Joan's banner had been victorious and ended the war in France and against England. In the early 1440s, John VIII, emperor of Constantinople tried to bring about an end to the Great Schism. He went to Florence and at the end of a council there decreed that the Eastern Church give its oath of obedience to Rome. The author writes: "He had, he felt, done his part. The West would have to fight to protect its own kindred in faith. And what ensued is one of the most tragic episodes in our history. The West did virtually nothing." If The Hundred Years' war had ended between these two great powers of the West in the 1430s, could they not have saved Byzantium from the Turks, ended the Great Schism, resulting in an invigorated and more diverse Church? A stronger more diverse church might not have been so insecure and frightened of heretics and both the horrors of the Inquisition and the Christian civil wars of the Reformation might not have been. Nash-Marshall points out that two years before she died; Joan invited the English to participate in a crusade:

"You, Duke of Bedford, the Maid begs and requires of you that you discontinue the destruction. If you grant her right, you may still come into her company where the French shall do the greatest feat of arms that was ever done for Christianity . . . "

As if the tragedy for that young girl was not enough, Ms. Nash-Marshal implies that the implications to Christianity of what they did to that child of God in Rouen are enormous. Her mission had just begun . . . " . . . the French shall do the greatest feat of arms that was ever done for Christianity . . . "

Read the book!

leon

Rating:
Summary: A marvelous first book about Joan of Arc
Review: A relatively short biography -"Joan of Arc: A Spiritual Biography" by Siobhan Nash-Marshall is a marvelous first book for someone wanting to read about Joan of Arc. It is not as intimidating as some of the larger tomes. While reverential, it is not, as the title might suggest, unquestioning in its acceptance of a divine origin of Joan's mission. It is intelligent, entertaining and easy to read.

I am not a scholar but the book looks solidly researched and no errors jumped out at me. Ms. Nash-Marshall's theme is that Joan is a "questor". Her success was due to the extraordinarily intense focus she had on her mission to the exclusion of all else. Joan believed down to the very core of her being that her mission was from God and that her voices were of divine origin. The book is a good solid well-written account of what we know of Joan. The last chapter offers an intriguing premise I had not seen before. It first dealt with the question why it might be important to God for France to be a nation and to reinforce the divine origin of the French crown. This assumes Joan's mission was a success and God's plans for France and Europe generally came to pass.

As we all know Joan was betrayed. Perhaps small shortsighted men thwarted God's real plans. I think the book offers another interpretation of what God's plan might have been. The Hundred Years war drained much of the energy of Western Christendom to aid Constantinople. The author states: "The Hundred Years' War ended in the very same year that Constantinople fell. In 1453, one nation was saved and one perished." What if a France under Joan's banner had been victorious and ended the war in France and against England. In the early 1440s, John VIII, emperor of Constantinople tried to bring about an end to the Great Schism. He went to Florence and at the end of a council there decreed that the Eastern Church give its oath of obedience to Rome. The author writes: "He had, he felt, done his part. The West would have to fight to protect its own kindred in faith. And what ensued is one of the most tragic episodes in our history. The West did virtually nothing." If The Hundred Years' war had ended between these two great powers of the West in the 1430s, could they not have saved Byzantium from the Turks, ended the Great Schism, resulting in an invigorated and more diverse Church? A stronger more diverse church might not have been so insecure and frightened of heretics and both the horrors of the Inquisition and the Christian civil wars of the Reformation might not have been. Nash-Marshall points out that two years before she died; Joan invited the English to participate in a crusade:

"You, Duke of Bedford, the Maid begs and requires of you that you discontinue the destruction. If you grant her right, you may still come into her company where the French shall do the greatest feat of arms that was ever done for Christianity . . . "

As if the tragedy for that young girl was not enough, Ms. Nash-Marshal implies that the implications to Christianity of what they did to that child of God in Rouen are enormous. Her mission had just begun . . . " . . . the French shall do the greatest feat of arms that was ever done for Christianity . . . "

Read the book!

leon

Rating:
Summary: CONGRATULATION
Review: Finally,a story teller opf depth...one whose clarity and understanding are the equal of her poetry. Certainly the entertaiment value of Ms Nash Marshall's "Spiritual Biography" of Joan of Arc will have its place,and won't leave anything of the bitter after taste of one who spends his time passing his time... but the life and case of Maid Joan, as told here, brings us something lasting. The author reveasls the master hand of the historian as she tells of the times and situation of the pulcelle of Domremy. Her tale leaves us with an exquisite background to our own age... how much more easily is the utopianism of our days to be seen as the dismal failure that it is... as well as the catastrophic attempts of the collectivists, with their socialism and communism and whatever... in the light of the idea brought to us today by a 17 years old farmer girl who knew, similarly in an age of little faith, that her nation might have a sacred cause, if it would only accept it, and be able to live the human, the holy life by it.

We live without the light of a maid who believed and was sure of the fact.

Congratulations, and thank you, Ms. Nash-Marshall. Our world, we hope, will be a less vague and frightening place for your recalling the work of Joan.

Sonia, Gaia & Sophie

Rating:
Summary: Mostly Military
Review: Finally,a story teller opf depth...one whose clarity and understanding are the equal of her poetry. Certainly the entertaiment value of Ms Nash Marshall's "Spiritual Biography" of Joan of Arc will have its place,and won't leave anything of the bitter after taste of one who spends his time passing his time... but the life and case of Maid Joan, as told here, brings us something lasting. The author reveasls the master hand of the historian as she tells of the times and situation of the pulcelle of Domremy. Her tale leaves us with an exquisite background to our own age... how much more easily is the utopianism of our days to be seen as the dismal failure that it is... as well as the catastrophic attempts of the collectivists, with their socialism and communism and whatever... in the light of the idea brought to us today by a 17 years old farmer girl who knew, similarly in an age of little faith, that her nation might have a sacred cause, if it would only accept it, and be able to live the human, the holy life by it.

We live without the light of a maid who believed and was sure of the fact.

Congratulations, and thank you, Ms. Nash-Marshall. Our world, we hope, will be a less vague and frightening place for your recalling the work of Joan.

Sonia, Gaia & Sophie

Rating:
Summary: Mostly Military
Review: Nash-Marshall offers a quickly read, introductory book on Joan of Arc in the same history-and-meditation format at Mary Gordon's for Penguin. Most of the meditation is in the last two chapters, some of it a bit weird. The author believes that the source of Joan's power must have been God, because if Joan had been the source of her own power she would have found a way to escape from prison in Rouen. Nash-Marshall's Joan is a "doer" and an "energetic warrior," in seeming disagreement with the Chapu marble Joan in repose on the book jacket (see p. 168). Typos ("Crepy" for the big battle at "Crecy") and curious sentences like the one in which Joan convinced soldiers to "live without the female attachments to which medieval armies were assuaged" suggest some of the difficulties with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Getting to know Joan of Arc
Review: Written in a straight forward, honest and at times very humorous manner, Joan of Arc by Nash-Marshall is informative, entertaining and inspiring. Joan is presented in all of her amazing simplicity, as a brave young girl who has received a mission and who uses all of her faculties to accomplish it. The consistency of her life, the coherence between her convictions and actions is a jolt to anyone who suffers the temptation to compromise on their ideals, i.e., to every living human person. Joan, her mission and her betrayal are the central elements in the narrative. Nash-Marshall gives the facts, and adds a logical interpretation that surprisingly does not hid a pro/against-anything agenda. Joan has been used by so many to further their causes: feminists, any-church militants and others have found the way to tell their story, inserting JOan into it as exhibit A. Nash-Marshall's book exudes a refreshing frankness; it gives us the facts on the France and England of Joan's times, on Joan herself, and on somse of the persons who most influenced the course of France's history and Joan's life. And then, she lets us draw our own conclusions. The end contains a very original point which ties Joan's death, the resurgence of France and the fall of Byzantium. Lovers of history will be interested in this thesis. The book can be enjoyed by a large public; adults as well as mature high school students will learn a good deal from reading it and find inspiration in Joan.

Rating:
Summary: If I could give 10 stars I would
Review: Written in a straight-forward, concise, and at times humorous manner, Nash-Marsha'lls Joan of Arc acquaints the reader with a historical character who became a legend during her lifetime legend.

Joan is presented to us as a brave young girl who received a mission and who courageously used all of her faculties and gifts to accomplish it.

Nash Marshall's approach is refreshingly honest. The narrative is centered on Joan, her mission, her work to fulfill it, her betrayal. The author gives us the facts and allows us readers to draw our own conclusions. So much has been written on Joan of Arc, by persons with all kinds of agendas. Feminists, anti-church militants and a host of others have told their stories and put Joan in as an illustration of the point they wanted to make. These interpretations vary widely, and it is amazing that they purport to deal with the same central character: Joan.

One of Joan's features the author shows us very successfully is the consistency of her life. The coherence between her convictions and actions will jolt anyone who faces the temptation to compromise on ideals, i.e., every living human person.

Lovers of history will find the author's thesis on the connection between the resurgence of France, the betrayal of Joan and the fall of Byzantium original yet totally plausible.

Those who read the book will learn a good deal about France and England in Joan's times. It can be enjoyed by a wide audience: adults and even mature high school student will find it of interest.