Bernard of Clairvaux - by Brian Patrick McGuire (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book covers Bernard's life from birth to death--from 1090 to1153--with the background of the first great medieval reformation of the Church and the founding and expansion of the Cistercian Order. It addresses what brought him to the monastery, how he related to its abbot, Stephen Harding, and what it was like to found a daughter house for Cãiteaux at Clairvaux. Bernard is seen through his first attempts to apply his knowledge and convictions on behalf of monks and abbots outside his own monastery."--

Book Synopsis

In this intimate portrait of one of the Middle Ages' most consequential men, 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 to his death in 1153 at the abbey he had founded four decades earlier, Bernard of Clairvaux reveals a life teeming with momentous events and spiritual contemplation, from Bernard's 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 and how he founded Clairvaux Abbey, established a network of Cistercian monasteries across Europe, and helped his brethren monks and abbots in heresy trials, affairs of state, and the papal schism of the 1130s.

By reevaluating Bernard's life and legacy through his own words and those of the people closest to him, McGuire reveals how this often-challenging saint saw himself and conveyed his convictions to others. Above all, this fascinating biography depicts Saint Bernard of Clairvaux as a man guided by Christian revelation and open to the achievements of the human spirit.

Review Quotes

Bernard of Clairvaux: An Inner Life is in my opinion an outstanding success; the contribution of an accomplished scholar who has studied Bernard and his Cistercians for decades and now offers, in a relaxed but incisive manner, the fruits of his research. The author has very deliberately chosen to use no footnotes or endnotes, freeing him simply to tell what he understands to be Bernard's story, how this monk and abbot saw himself as he became the central figure in Western Europe during the twelfth centur and overall, one of the greater luminaries of the High Middle Ages.

-- "American Benedictine Review"

McGuire is to be commended for continuing to try to fulfill his own teacher's command, but it makes one wonder whether Bernard's original biographers felt similarly compelled. It also raises important questions about the way in which religious communities depend on biographies of their founders for their own institutional identity.

-- "The Journal of Religion"

Bernard of Clairvaux is a welcome and needed contribution to Cistercian scholarship and look into the motivations, ideals, and activities of a complex man who many have called the most influential individual in the first half of twelfth-century Europe. Thanks to Brian Patrick McGuire, the picture of this elusive saint becomes a bit clearer.

-- "Church History"

Based on an unrivaled knowledge of the relevant sources and a deep understanding of the Cistercian way of life. [T]his will undoubtedly be the definitive biography of this monumental figure for many years to come.

-- "Times Literary Supplement"

Based on the earliest lives of Bernard and his numerous extant letters, this book provides an excellent, carefully structured chronological narrative of "a human being, not a saint."

-- "Choice"

Brian McGuire is to be congratulated on producing this volume which will provide a clear exposition of the traditional view of Bernard's career along with insight into the many concerns that attracted his attention. The author is also to be praised for openly and honestly confronting the hard questions that contemporary readers might have in reading about Bernard, and for giving direct answers to their questions.

-- "Cistercian Studies Quarterly"

About the Author

Brian Patrick McGuire is Professor Emeritus at Roskilde University. He is author or editor of twenty-five books, including Friendship and Community.