Bernard of Clairvaux

Fülszöveg

ERNARD
OF CLAIRVAUX
BETWEEN CULT

first began reading Bernard of Clair-vaux in 1944 as a young university student forced into hiding by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Over the past fifty years Bredero has extended his acadennic interest in Bernard in several directions, including the historical value of the vita prima. Bernard's part in the conflict between Cîteaux and Cluny, and the image of St Bernard as it was developed by hagiog-raphers and scholars through the ages.
Bernard of Clairvaux between Cult and History summarizes Bredero's lifelong study of Bernard, the Cistercian monk who was arguably the most influential ecclesiastical figure of the twelfth century and who remains one of the church's most venerated saints. This volume, which Bredero himself calls his "final report of a long investigation," does not pretend to offer yet another biography of Bernard. Rather, it paves the way for future biographical scholarship by pointing out — and often suggesting... Tovább

Fülszöveg

ERNARD
OF CLAIRVAUX
BETWEEN CULT

first began reading Bernard of Clair-vaux in 1944 as a young university student forced into hiding by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Over the past fifty years Bredero has extended his acadennic interest in Bernard in several directions, including the historical value of the vita prima. Bernard's part in the conflict between Cîteaux and Cluny, and the image of St Bernard as it was developed by hagiog-raphers and scholars through the ages.
Bernard of Clairvaux between Cult and History summarizes Bredero's lifelong study of Bernard, the Cistercian monk who was arguably the most influential ecclesiastical figure of the twelfth century and who remains one of the church's most venerated saints. This volume, which Bredero himself calls his "final report of a long investigation," does not pretend to offer yet another biography of Bernard. Rather, it paves the way for future biographical scholarship by pointing out — and often suggesting resolutions to — the many problems that beset this field of inquiry
Toward this end, Bredero deals carefully with three key areas in the field of Bernard studies. First, he examines the
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textual problems surrounding the earliest hagiography of Bernard, in particular the vita prima, and the relationship between the authors of this work and Bernard. Second, Bredero evaluates Bernard as he has been discussed in historiography and literature. Third, he deals with the question of how Bernard ought to be viewed in his own historical context, his actions during his "earthly" life.
For Bredero, the "chinnera" nature of Bernard the man derives from a disjunction between "history" and "cult," between Bernard as historical actor and Bernard as object of cult. This volume will be invaluable to anyone interested in these parallel strains of fact and legend, and particulariy so to those who would attempt to reconcile them. Vissza