"Perhaps no book was more central to medieval spirituality and mysticism," writes Bernard McGinn, "or more problematic to contemporary readers, than the Song of Songs. . . Lingering Victorian attitudes towards the opposition between sex and religion find the Song's frank erotic language embarrassing and even distasteful." But in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the Song of Songs was a favorite book of Cistercian monks. Bernard of Clairvaux, Gilbert of Hoyland, and John of Ford, as well as William of Saint Thierry, read it as a dialogue between Christ the Bridegroom and the human...
"Perhaps no book was more central to medieval spirituality and mysticism," writes Bernard McGinn, "or more problematic to contemporary readers, than t...
This practical guide to the spiritual life, cherished by monks, beguines, and lay folk for eight centuries, can still lead men and women to God.
The Golden Epistle first appeared in s1145 and has been ascribed to several different authors, among them Bernard of Clairvaux and Guigo the carthusian. Today its author is known to have been William of Saint Thierry, a Cistercian monk of the abbey of Signy and a friend of Saint Bernard.
It was read continuously throughout the Middle Ages and into modern times, especially y lay men and women seeking guidance in their spiritual...
This practical guide to the spiritual life, cherished by monks, beguines, and lay folk for eight centuries, can still lead men and women to God.
