{"product_id":"bernard-of-clairvaux-an-inner-life-hardback-9781501751042","title":"Bernard of Clairvaux; An Inner Life (Hardback) 9781501751042","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eBernard of Clairvaux\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eAn Inner Life\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eBrian Patrick McGuire (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781501751042\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 15 October 2020\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e376 pages, 2 maps, 1 frontispiec - 2 Maps - 1 Frontispiece\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm, 0.907 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased 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.\"\u003c\/p\u003e (Choice) \u003cp\u003eBased 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.\u003c\/p\u003e (Times Literary Supplement) \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBernard of Clairvaux\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e (Church History) \u003cp\u003eBrian 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.\u003c\/p\u003e (Cistercian Studies Quarterly) \u003cp\u003eMcGuire 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.\u003c\/p\u003e (The Journal of Religion) \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBernard of Clairvaux: An Inner Life\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e (American Benedictine Review)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFollowing Bernard from his birth in 1090 to his death in 1153 at the abbey he had founded four decades earlier, \u003ci\u003eBernard of Clairvaux\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBy 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction: In Pursuit of a Difficult Saint\u003cbr\u003e 1. A Time of Hope and Change\u003cbr\u003e 2. A Saint's Origins\u003cbr\u003e 3. From the New Monastery to the Valley of Light, 1115–1124\u003cbr\u003e 4. Monastic Commitment and Church Politics, 1124–1129\u003cbr\u003e 5. Toward Reformation of Church and Monastery\u003cbr\u003e 6. Healing a Divided Church, 1130–1135\u003cbr\u003e 7. Victory and Defeat: A Conflicted Church, 1136–1140\u003cbr\u003e 8. The World after the Schism: One Thing after Another, 1140–1145\u003cbr\u003e 9. Preaching a Crusade and Leaving Miracles Behind, 1146–1150\u003cbr\u003e 10. Business as Usual in Preparing for Death\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52656091037976,"sku":"9781501751042","price":25.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/bernard-of-clairvaux-an-inner-life-hardback-9781501751042","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}