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Mystic · Medieval

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

1090–1153 · Cistercian monastic theology

Doctor of the Church Latin

Doctor of the Church (Doctor Mellifluus), declared 1830.

Abbot of Clairvaux and the dominant churchman of his age, Bernard preached the Second Crusade, counseled popes, and opposed Abelard's dialectical theology in the name of a wisdom learned in prayer. His Sermons on the Song of Songs and On Loving God describe the soul's ascent through the degrees of love to union with the Word, and his Marian preaching shaped Western devotion.

Why he matters: He is the last of the Fathers and the master of affective, Christ-centerd mysticism; his teaching on grace and free choice holds together what later schools would pull apart.

Reading

  • On Loving God
    St. Bernard of Clairvaux · The four degrees of love; short and complete.
    Journal
  • Sermons on the Song of Songs (selections)
    St. Bernard of Clairvaux · The great mystical commentary; start with Sermons 1–20.
    Journal
  • Doctor Mellifluus
    Pope Pius XII, 1953 · The encyclical for his eighth centenary, a reliable guide to his doctrine.
    Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error
I

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology
How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes
How should we speak of God? Apophatic (negative) way
Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way
How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges
Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges
II

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Fideism
Rationalism Fideism
Where does knowledge begin? Illumination and innate ideas
Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas
Is truth objective? Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth
Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium
How should Scripture be read? Fundamentalist literalism
Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism
What is theology for? A wisdom ordered to loving
A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized
III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul
Are you free? Free will
Determinism Free will
How fallen is human nature? Totally depraved
Totally depraved Basically good
The body and its desires Contempt for the flesh
Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity
What is suffering for? A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross
IV

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude
Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude
What is happiness? Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God
What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? The will's love and enjoyment of God
The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God
V

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How does grace move the will? Thomist (Bañezian)
Thomist (Bañezian) Molinist
How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace
What is salvation for? Deification
Pardon and escape Deification
Hell and hope The many are lost
The many are lost All will be saved
Would the Word have become flesh had Adam not sinned? Christ came to redeem sinners
Christ came to redeem sinners Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)
Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? The man Jesus of Nazareth
The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth
VI

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ
Laicism Social kingship of Christ
May a Christian take up the sword? Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically
Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically
Icons and images Veneration of images
Iconoclasm Veneration of images
The way of prayer Between
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation
The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato
When the Pope speaks Every word binds
Resist and judge Every word binds
Holy Orders and the Church's constitution A clerical Church
A clerical Church Reformable by the people
Contemplation or action? Contemplation: the one thing needful
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful

A profile of your philosophical and theological leanings, measured against the settled teaching of the Catholic Church, East and West. It is a tool for examination and reading, not an instrument of judgment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.