Moreover, Bernie was a
>fine rhetorician, and I take this term to mean someone who opens
>up the truth (as opposed to the modern pejorative use, which is
>about obscuring the truth--I'll leave the term, truth, undefined...).
>Still, it is no reason to render him as a pater ecclesiae.
>
Worth remembering, maybe, that tradition consecrated Bernard as "doctor
_mellifluus_", which seems to me to get to the heart of his achievement:
not in the first rank as a theologian (though definitely some kind of
intellectual!), but beyond question a major _writer_ - and perhaps his most
original contributions do, after all, lie in the area of metaphor (Mary as
"aqueduct" and so on). Probably also a rather difficult companion at High
Table, so to speak, but how anyone can dislike him more than that arrogant
dissolute monomaniac Abelard is beyond me :-)
It sounds like a wonderful course. Will the lecturer's notes be made
available on-line???
Steven Botterill
Associate Professor of Italian Literature
Graduate Adviser, Department of Italian Studies
Department of Italian Studies
6303 Dwinelle Hall #2620
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-2620
(510) 642-6246 (voice)
(510) 642-9884 (FAX)
http://ls.berkeley.edu/dept/italian/botterill.htm
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