By Matthew James Gray, Lecturer in Theology and Church History
I’m thinking of starting to stand on my head.I recently read GK Chesterton’s biography of Francis of Assisi, and in it Chesterton likened Francis to the medieval jester, “the court fool of the King of Paradise”. More than that, he suggested that Francis’ entire career was like a comic acrobat, standing upside-down. Chesterton seemed to see many upsides to being upside-down, especially for those of us who are Christians in this topsy-turvy world.
Primarily, it revealed the world’s fragility. Thinking of the impregnable walls surrounding Assisi, Chesterton wrote: Whereas to the normal eye the large masonry of its walls would make it seem safer and more permanent, the moment it was turned over the very same weight would make it seem more helpless and more in peril. He would be thankful to God for not dropping the whole cosmos like a vast crystal to be shattered into falling stars. Read More