Joan of Arc

I must be honest. I really don't know anything about French history. I blame some of this ignorance on my American education and I blame some of my ignorance on my apathetic attitude towards the French culture. I don't exactly know where I adopted such a sad stance on the French, but i confess my sin in an effort to redeem my new interest.

The first saint that James Martin discusses in his book is Joan of Arc, who was not only French, but was a great French military leader. Her story starts as a young girl who hears the voices of three saints. These three saints instructed Joan to save France. Through a series of events the French military, Joan of Arc and the three saints accompanying her, went into action against the English. After a couple of successful battles the French decided that they weren't in need of their living saint and let her get captured by the Burgundian army who sold her to the English.  The French's apathy for their young prophet led her to a death fit more for a witch than for a saint. The church that she revered sent her off to her death as a heretic.

All in all Joan's life looks a lot like many of the lives that have followed God rather than the cultural and theological expectations of the church. A life that is marked by the fingerprints of the Holy Spirit rather than the finger prints of current culture or theology.

It brings me to ask the question; if we are all following the Holy Spirit with our heart, mind, soul, and strength are we more apt to look like contemporary culture or theology? And if we are not looking like contemporary culture and theology what is the good of it all?

Joan of Arc was culturally and theologically contradictory for her time. I don't know much about the culture back then, but I do know that a woman who refused to dress in a man's clothing would have been completely misunderstood. Not only would she have been misunderstood, but would have been considered a heretic by the church's standard. We certainly wouldn't call her a heretic within the restoration movement but she wouldn't have been looked upon with affection.

Joan wasn't different. Joan was following what God wanted and she was confident in that way of life. Joan  trusted in the Lord. Whether you believe in saints, or whether you despise Catholics like so many protestants do, you have to admit that Joan was a real tangible example of faith. You may not believe in her story, but to look at the person of Joan you have to admit she believed in it.

James Martin recognizes that, "Joan found her way to God by learning a language that no one else could hear, and so she is the perfect model for someone on the beginning of a faith journey" (26). I would only add that I think Joan is also the perfect model for someone on the middle and the end of a faith journey as well.