I finished my vacation and finished a few books
http://www.amazon.com/The-Saint-Sultan-Crusades-Francis/dp/038552370X
For many of us, St. Francis of Assisi is known as a poor monk and a lover of animals. However, these images are sadly incomplete, because they ignore an equally important and more challenging aspect of his life -- his unwavering commitment to seeking peace. In The Saint and the Sultan, Paul Moses recovers Francis' s message of peace through the largely forgotten story of his daring mission to end the crusades.
In 1219, as the Fifth Crusade was being fought, Francis crossed enemy lines to gain an audience with Malik al-Kamil, the Sultan of Egypt. The two talked of war and peace and faith and when Francis returned home, he proposed that his Order of the Friars Minor live peaceably among the followers of Islam–a revolutionary call at a moment when Christendom pinned its hopes for converting Muslims on the battlefield.
The Saint and the Sultan captures the lives of St. Francis and Sultan al-Kamil and illuminates the political intrigue and religious fervor of their time. In the process, it reveals a startlingly timely story of interfaith conflict, war, and the search for peace. More than simply a dramatic adventure, though it does not lack for colorful saints and sinners, loyalty and betrayal, and thrilling Crusade narrative, The Saint and the Sultan brings to life an episode of deep relevance for all who seek to find peace between the West and the Islamic world.
Winner of the 2010 Catholic Press Association Book Award for History
I liked this book for several reasons. 1. it showed that "grassroots" monks were defying the papacy and avoiding the "corporate" structure of the church's hierarchy of orders and monastaries. Second it shows the Islamic leader as extremely and I mean extremely astute and understanding. At points where I would have have said " fuck you, kill them all" he gave food and clothing to even the crusaders who were attempting to overtake his land. Third, there is a slighty irony that this Islamic leader was even more "liberal" than everyone else to the point where if a convert to islam wanted to convert to Christianity he let them. There is a telling story where the sultan's father was in court at a time where a Muslim wanted to convert to Christianty and the father heard of it and threatened the convert with death and all the previous converts with death as well. Predicably they all reconverted to islam. I enjoyed the book overall because it showed how a true revolutionary has his work "overtaken" by bureaucracy and greed until it becomes part of the establishment even to the point of throwing out it's founder
Topic: What book are you reading?