ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most famous medieval New Testament hermeneuticist to translate the Synoptic gospels into the vernacular of thirteenthcentury Italy was Francis of Assisi. His appropriations were dramatic, direct and dynamic rather than verbal, vapid and verbose. He sought positive, affirmative cultural equivalents in spite of the fact that he lived immersed in a society highly influenced by medieval Manichaeism. In his lifework, Francis would not allow that form of Gnosticism to filter out the basic humanity of the Good News that Jesus brought and was.
