Francis’s search for God had a new perspective. Not only Anselm but Augustine of Hippo and Dionysius the Areopagite had seen God primarily as Plato’s ‘Unmoved Mover’: so, after Francis’s time, did Thomas Aquinas. But rather than perceiving God as this self-sufficient divine being, Francis saw a person: his Lord. Again and again, Francis calls God ‘Lord God’ (Dominus Deus). The Lord enters agreements – covenants – with his people, just as he did with the people of Israel (see pp. 60–61). As his side of the bargain in covenanting, he acts, rather than simply is.32 His greatest action is in
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