medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
If one wishes to understand the medieval monastic self-understanding of the self, I would recommend Amedee Hallier, _The Monastic Theology of Aelred of Rievaulx_, Cistercian Studies Series (ca. 1970), Jean LeClercq, _The Love of Learning and Desire for God_ (1957, 1961, 2nd ed. 1967); Gerhart B. Ladner, _The Idea of Reform_ (1959, 2nd ed. 1967); David N. Bell, _The Image and Likeness_ (on the theology of William of St. Thierry), Cistercian Studies Series, about 1984; Gordon Mursell, _The Theology of the Carthusian Life in the Writings of Bruno and Guigo II_, Analecta Cartusiana series (Salzburg, about 1981). I summarize much of this in my _Fifteenth-Century Carthusian Reform_ (Leiden, 1992).
The basic principle that is too often forgotten in the books on the discovery of the self in the Middle Ages or in Augustine etc. is that in patristic Christian thought (which was effectively the world the medieval monks lived in), the human self is in the image and likeness of God, a gift of God, hence one is most truly one's self to the degree that one is utterly, radically dependent on one's Creator in whose image one was made; the present situation one finds oneself in, after the falll into sin, is alienation from one's true self (i.e., from God). Hence to assert oneself in this false-self manner will lead one only farther into the exile of the land of dissimilitude.
For primary texts one might start with Bernard of Clairvaux's _Steps of Humlity and Pride_, based of course on Benedict's rule ch.7 etc. Note the role that outer obedience to the rule place in actually freeing oneself from inordinate desire for false ends (creatures) in order to begin the path of reformatio. Other key texts would include the passages on uti/frui in Augustine's _De doctrina Christiana_ and Aelred of Rievaulx's _Speculum Caritatis_, which is an excellent recapitulation of Augustine's uti-frui, imago-Dei anthropology, including the social dimensions.
This is only a very, very brief thumbnail sketch and it is probably already completely familiar to many who are reading it. It is, however, I think, too often acknowledged only to be forgotten in the search for more "sexy" explanations of medieval monastic anthropology. Once one takes it seriously and reads monastic texts (e.g., Guigo I the Carthusians's _Meditationes_ (available in the Source Chretiennes series and in a translation by Gordon Mursell in Cistercian Studies series, as well as an older translation from Marquette U. P, I believe) one discovers many layers of signification that one would otherwise miss.
Dennis Martin
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