Synopsis: In this intimate portrait of one of the most consequential men of the Middle Ages, Brian Patrick McGuire delves into the life of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux to offer a refreshing interpretation that finds within this grand historical figure a deeply spiritual human being who longed for the reflective quietude of the monastery even as he helped shape the destiny of a church and a continent. Heresy and crusade, politics and papacies, theology and disputation shaped this astonishing man's life, and McGuire presents it all in a deeply informed and clear-eyed biography.
Following Bernard from his birth in 1090 in Burgundy to his death in 1153 at the abbey he had founded four decades earlier, McGuire reveals a life teeming with both momentous events and spiritual contemplation, from his central roles in the first great medieval reformation of the Church and the Second Crusade, which he came to regret, to the crafting of his books, sermons, and letters. We see what brought Bernard to monastic life, how he founded Clairvaux Abbey, established a network of Cistercian monasteries across Europe, and intervened on behalf of his brethren monks and abbots, as well as in heresy trials, affairs of state, and the papal schism of 1130.
By reevaluating Bernard's life and legacy through his own words and those of the people closest to him, this intimate account reveals how this often challenging saint saw himself and conveyed his convictions to those around him. Above all, McGuire depicts Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in a new light, as a man guided by Christian revelation and open to the achievements of the human spirit.
Bernard of Clairvaux was and is a complicated historical figure - a contradiction, an enigma, a politician, a saint; humble yet arrogant, proud, egotistical; passive yet domineering; retiring yet forthright and downright interfering.
McGuire tells us that he seeks " ... to find Bernard as a man, monk, abbot, political figure and central actor in Christian Europe ...". He successfully dispels some of the myths surrounding Bernard, whilst discussing the interpretation of the earlier sources and how they came to be adopted in later biographies. McGuire uses Bernard's own writings to "... cast light on the way Bernard understood himself and the world around him ...".
For me personally, I was interested in Bernard's involvement in the papal schism, the Crusades, and his dealings with the Knights Templar and King Roger II of Sicily. Despite repeated entreaties to return to his humble life within the Cistercian Order, Bernard still managed to insinuate himself upon the international political stage whenever the opportunity presented - in fact he comes across as being quite offended if he was not being consulted by princes, kings and popes!
McGuire mentions that Bernard "... worked to define orthodox belief and at the same time responded for the most part generously to the churchmen and others who turned to him for counsel and assistance ..."
There is no doubting the global influence and magnetism of Bernard, and McGuire provides a readily accessible study of this great man - though with the following proviso - he sees "... no reason to whitewash Bernard to make him politically correct for our age ...". And rightly so, for Bernard was not of our age and we not of his.
Towards the end of the book McGuire takes our certain themes and expounds upon them - themes such as: sources used; prior biographies written; Second Crusade and the Knights Templar; Bernard's relationships with Peter Abelard, Stephen Harding (Abbot of Citeaux) and Peter the Venerable (Abbot of Cluny); his sermons.
For those wishing to learn more and add to their own studies of Bernard, McGuire's book is definitely one to read.
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