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SEARCHING FOR SALVATION

Program 05-12-11-B

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He was a wandering pilgrim who talked to birds, healed the sick and tamed wild beasts. He was also the closest thing to a medieval rock star - a man so revered in his lifetime that people tore at this clothes, desperate to touch a living saint. Today, St. Francis of Assisi is admired by both Christians and atheists. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll follow in the footsteps of St. Francis as we travel to Italy, visiting his old hermitages.

SEGMENT 1:

Tom Key wrote and performs a one man play called "C.S. Lewis On Stage." We hear excerpts and Key tell Jim Fleming how Lewis was affected by fighting in WWI and how Lewis became a Christian. Also, we hear a brief excerpt from an interview with children's book author Phillip Pullman ("His Dark Materials" trilogy) who explains why he detests "The Chronicles of Narnia" and Lewis' other works for children.

SEGMENT 2:

Steve Paulson prepared this report on Saint Francis of Assissi and his continuing influence in the modern world. Francis was an Italian mystic who lived 800 years ago, was a peace broker during the Crusades, and is the patron saint of animal lovers. Actress Sarah Day reads selections from Valerie Martin's novel, "Salvation." And we hear a lot of location sound recorded where Francis lived in Italy. Click here for pictures of Steve's trip.

SEGMENT 3:

Robert Orsi is a historian at Harvard Divinity School and the author of "Between Heaven and Earth." He tells Anne Strainchamps about the role of angels and saints in Catholicism pre-Vatican II and insists that people's relationships with them are real, whether or not the spirits are. Also, Marilynne Robinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel "Gilead," talks about the book with Steve Paulson. The book's about Calvinism and how to live a moral life.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 05-12-11-B.

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Books:

• Linda Bird Francke, On the Road with Francis of Assisi: A Timeless Journey Through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond (Random House)
• Valerie Martin, Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis (Knopf)
  
• Robert A. Orsi, Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them (Princeton)
• Marilynne Robinson, Gilead: a novel (FSG)
• Donald Spoto, Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi (Penguin Compass)

Music:

• After Return:
  John Coltrane w/ "Acknowledgement"
  on "A Love Supreme"
  Impulse Records
• After Tom Key:
  Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny w/ "Tears of Rain"
  on "Beyond the Missouri Sky"
  Verve
• After Philip Pullman:
  Haden & Metheny w/ "Waltz for Ruth"
• In St. Francis:
  Robyn Miller w/ "Fissure"
  on "Riven" soundtrack
  Virgin Records
• Ry Cooder w/ "Night in L.A."
  on "The End of Violence" soundtrack
  Outpost Recordings
• Robert Shaw Festival Singers w/ "Tout puisant, tres saint";
  also "O mes tres chers freres at mes enfants"
  on "Poulenc"
  Telarc
• After Robert Orsi:
  Jimmy Smith w/ "The Sermon"
  on "The Best of Jimmy Smith"
  Blue Note
• After Marilynne Robinson:
  Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny w/ "Spiritual"
  on "Beyond the Missouri Sky"

Distribution dates:

week of 12/24/2006 - hour 1 week of 12/11/2005 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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