Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: The Doctrine of the Imago and Its Relationship to Cistercian Monasticism
Abstract
Through an analysis of the De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio have seen Bernard's teaching on man as an imago. In his other works, especially the De Praecepto et Dispensatione and the Sermones De Diversis Bernard has shown us the definite relationship between the reformatio man and the monaetic life. Since the monastic life is primarily devoted to the care and growth of the highest degree of life man can enjoy, the spiritual life, it is the manner of life most eminently suited for the reformatio of the imago. The Exordium Parvum, in turn, has revealed that Cistercian monasticism represented a break from the traditional Benedictine and Cluniac interpretation of the Rule. Citeaux was itself a reformatio and a renovatio of the monastic life. The conclusion was then drawn at the end of the preoeeding chapter that the Cistercian monastery was the place most suited for the reformation of man to the image and likeness of God.
Subject Area
Philosophy of religion
Recommended Citation
Pascoe, Louis B, "Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: The Doctrine of the Imago and Its Relationship to Cistercian Monasticism" (1960). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI28673285.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI28673285
