Miserable Marriage for the Glory of Christ

Castle Este in Ferrara, a severe and imposing fortress, serves as a reminder of the grace and perseverance Christ gives to his bride the church in affliction. Renee, Huguenot Duchess of Ferrara, commissioned an Italian Bible translation, supported Fanini and other Italian Reformation preachers, and sheltered refugees like poet Clement Marot and John Calvin, all the while suffering the brutal cruelties of a tyrant husband and sworn enemy of the doctrines of grace.

Heart Aflame in Florence part 1

 

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, a bridge over which Savonarola would have walked many times (as well as Botticelli, Donatello, Ghiberti, and many other Renaissance greats). We stayed in a two hundred plus year old convent with spacious high ceilings, many salons and a gorgeous walled garden. It was a hospital during WW I and protected Jews during WW II. Weather blue sky, lots of sunshine, and warm. Our dinner was served to us by Andrea and his wife at the trattoria Club Paradiso. He was a character and made me a partner in the business but then fired me when I didn't show up early to wait tables. We talked about r purpose for being on this tour which led to a witness for Christ. His reply: "Protestantism isn't a disease, you know." And when I told him I didn't think he looked as old as 66, he replied, "That's because I am not a Protestant."

We traced Savonarola's steps, preaching in the Duomo, San Marco's priory, his room, his cloak and hair shirt, his prison cell in Tower Vecchio where he wrote his Prison Meditations, later translated by Luther and published in 1533 in Wittenberg, and the inauspicious marker in Piazza Signoria where he was burned in 1497. Next Florence post will include an excerpt from my book on Savonarola...

Savonarola, Man on Fire--newest biography, coming soon!

Forthcoming new biography

It's been a delight researching and writing about the fascinating and complicated pre-reformer, Girolamo Savonarola. This is my first co-authored book, with INKBLOTS founder and friend Doug McComas. And this book marks another first: I have occasionally made artist recommendations on my other books, but I have never had a publisher bite the hook on one of my artist suggestions--until now! Sarah Bye, artist extraordinaire, has created a vivid and human depiction of the man and of Florence his home, and where he was martyred, and Evangelical Press loved it. The book will release very soon.

Here is an excerpt from the opening chapter:

“Siamo perduti!” The cry echoed off the marble statues and fine stonework of the streets and plazas of Florence, Italy. “We are ruined!” What Florentines feared had come upon them. It was September 21, 1494 and the birthplace of the Renaissance was paralyzed with dread. Greedy for blood, the army of the king of France had crossed the Alps and was on the march to Florence. In a matter of days Charles VIII’s soldiers would be thundering at the gates of the city. 

"The expedition of Charles VIII into Italy," wrote Edward Gibbon, "changed the face of Europe." In those gut-wrenching days, Florentine mothers and children cared little for what happened to the face of Europe. But they were horrified for their own lives. In despair, they crowded into the cathedral church of Santa Maria del Fiore, long-awaited innovation of the architectural genius, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). The Duomo had become the virtual symbol of the Renaissance. Since its completion in 1436, the cathedral’s dome remains the largest masonry dome in the world, the grand marvel not only of the city but of the entire cultural movement. One awed contemporary said the Duomo was "vast enough to cover the entire Tuscan population with its shadow."

With lecherous French soldiers slavering at her gates, terrified Florentines sought refuge under that vast dome. They had gathered to hear the prior of San Marco, the fiery preacher who had expelled the Medicis and their tyrannies. That man was Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498).

When Savonarola ascended the high pulpit, his congregation—numb with fear—longed for some words of comfort from his lips. He looked out on their upturned faces. “For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth,” the Dominican friar gave out his text, “to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 6:17). The somber manner in which he read the sacred words sent a shudder through every man, woman, and child that stood before him. Eyewitness to the sermon, philosopher Pico della Mirandola said that Savonarola’s terrifying words made his hair to stand on end. And with the preacher’s every word, the French army came on to their destruction—just as he had prophesied.

SAVONAROLA’S WORLD

Savonarola’s world reads like the guest list at a royal banquet, a veritable who’s who of celebrated personages. He breathed the air of the famous and the infamous, the notable and the notorious, the gifted and the great.

 
Born in Ferrara in 1452, he shared a birth year with Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. As Savonarola’s mother labored to deliver her son...

New Biography of Savonarola Off to Publisher (EP)

This is my first co-authored book, and what a delightful experience it has been to collaborate with my friend and colleague, Douglas McComas, founder of INKBLOTS! The book is part of the short biography series published by Evangelical Press (EP) in the UK, with Michael Haykin in the role of series editor (the same series as my biography on Augustus Toplady). We found Savonarola's life fascinating.  He was one of the pre-Reformers God raised up in the 15th-century to prepare the way for men like Luther and Calvin in the Reformation. But it was a rough time for him.

As we read Savonarola, it's no exaggeration to say that we fell in love with this flawed but deeply passionate lover of Christ. How could we not do so with a man who prayed like this,  “O Lord! Arise, and come to deliver thy Church from the hands of devils, from the hands of tyrants, from the hands of iniquitous prelates.”

In his prison meditations the night before his martyrdom, Savonarola wrestled with himself in soliloquy, “Do you have faith?  Yes I have it. Good: this is a great grace of God, for faith comes of his gift, not of your works, that no one may glory in them.” And that from the pen of a Dominican friar. Though not fully orbed in his theology, we found Savonarola not only to be on a trajectory away from medieval synergism, but growing clearer and clearer about the doctrines of free grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of my readers said after reading a draft, "Your portrayal of Savonarola himself succeeded in that test of a multi-dimensional figure, towering in his allegiance to Christ and cross but yet flawed, a bit irascible yet brilliant, fervent yet failing according to...well, Machiavellian standards. Fascinating!" 

We found Savonarola's life to be exciting, dangerous, and tragic--but ultimately a triumphant one. All by grace alone, with his mind and heart riveted on Christ Jesus alone.

Read an excerpt and learn more. Audio excerpt coming soon...