The Last Christian

by Adolf Holl

English, German (translation)

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Adolf Holl was an Austrian Catholic writer and theologian. He lived in Vienna.

Reviews

[meowdeleine]

Lord, make me an instrument of your literally crazy stubborn mercy

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed many aspects of this thought provoking book. Written by a Marxist historian in 1980 it is a cogent interpretation of Francis as a saint emerging at the beginning of modern capitalism. As an aside, it certainly bears the traces of its time and the legacy of Edward snow's Red Star Rising. Holl at one point offers a vision of Mao and st. Francis having a conversation in heaven, both being--in theory--enemies of exploitative capitalism. So many Western intellectuals of the late 70s and early 80s were so willingly ignorant of the devastating realities of Mao's china. It is hard to swallow the section of the book where holl compares francis' deep devotion to lady poverty and his distrust of institutions to Mao's cultural revolution. Though overall the book engaging and insightful the dated, uninformed marxism is both historiographicallly interesting and a bit troubling.

[Leroy Seat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book, and, if possible, I would have given it at least 4.5 stars.

Holl (b. 1930), an Austrian Catholic theologian, writes brilliantly not only about the life of St. Francis but also about the broader world context in the 13th century and about Francis' relevance to the world today (although it is a bit dated in some ways now, for the book was first published in 1979).

At the beginning of his book, Holl writes, "Francis of Assisi, the last Christian. No one after him worked as strenuously against the forces of modernity as he did, with his body, with his very life. Francis had no new theory to offer, but an old practice—the practice of Jesus Christ" (pp. 1-2).

For those interested in Francis and his & message, I highly recommend this book.