Reviews for The works of Bernard of Clairvaux

The average rating for The works of Bernard of Clairvaux based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-03-28 00:00:00 Matt Olson Great intro to Cassian.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-11-07 00:00:00 Sorrian Stanos This is one of those posthumous publications of Thomas Merton which come out from time to time as work continues on his papers. In this work, we find Thomas Merton's notes for his novice conference at his monastery. As novice master at his monastery, Merton offered several courses on the Church Fathers, especially those important for the monastic tradition. Of course, Cassian had the pride of place after St. Benedict himself, given that this was a Trappist monastery (and, thus, kind of a reformed Benedictine order), that order of precedence makes sense. Of course, St. Benedict mentions Cassian's Institutes and Conferences as the next step after his "Rule of beginners". So, it makes sense that Merton's lectures would attract so much attention on this subject. The book is really just Merton's lecture notes on Cassian. It breaks into two sections- a very useful prologue which goes through monastic history from the Desert Fathers to Cassian himself. That is useful as a review of monastic practice and is worth reading by itself. Then, there are Merton's detailed lectures on Cassian's Institutes and Conferences themselves. The discussion is both learned and enlightening, although familiarity with the texts is helpful. Some Latin knowledge is also helpful as Merton will throw in the odd Latin quotation because he could legitimately expect his audience to know it. A general warning: these are lecture notes, so don't expect the literary polish of Merton's other works. They're still good and still useful, but they weren't really intended for publication. They are both an interesting indication of Merton's teaching as well as his thinking in his monastic setting.