"Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words."While it underscores the undeniable importance of integrity in our life and words, the quote has never seemed to reflect the biblical perspective or balance regarding the relationship between the two. The gap between the biblical emphasis and Francis' quote caused me to feel a twinge of discomfort each time I heard it pulled out to emphasize the importance of our life, while minimizing the importance of our words.
But now I learn that Francis never said this, nor did he live it. It seems that biographer (and CT Today editor) Mark Galli sets the record straight in his article, Speak the Gospel: Use Deeds When Necessary.
A couple of quotes from the article:
And his conclusion:First, no biography written within the first 200 years of his death contains the saying. It's not likely that a pithy quote like this would have been missed by his earliest disciples.
Second, in his day, Francis was known as much for his preaching as for his lifestyle.
The point is this: Francis was a preacher. And the type of preacher who would alarm us today. "Hell, fire, brimstone" would not be an inaccurate description of his style.
That being said, a better saying (which you can attribute to anyone you like) is this: Preach the gospel—use actions when necessary; use words always.
3 comments:
Kieth thank you for this post. Oh how that quote coming out of the mouths of college students drives me nuts. It is often a cop-out to site it because people feel like the words are not important. So when speaking words makes them feel uncomfortable they lean on this now debunked quote. Not to say that actions are not vitally important but it is not a polar choice of one or the other it is a both and choice. Nice I will definitely look into this more.
I would suggest that Galli was not entirely accurate or fair with this piece. Check out this article I found:
http://www.missional.ca/2009/06/preach-the-gospel-at-all-times/
Timothy,
Thanks for drawing my attention to this posting. This is an interesting counterbalance.
Personally, I am more comfortable with Jamie's perspective, than what I often have encountered with the infamous quote. For instance, he writes:
"In fact, it was likely inspired by these other quotes from Francis: 'It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.'
This doesn't seem to elevate the walk over the words, as the "quote" appears to (or is often used to). Rather it argues for integrity between the two. Also...
"They demonstrate the Francis was deeply committed to both the proclamation and embodiment of the Gospel... If this quote is used to diminish the importance of verbal preaching/proclamation, then it is a betrayal of the spirit of St. Francis.
And finally, the conclusion strikes a better:
"Therefore, preach the Gospel at all times, in both word and deed."
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