Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T04:27:43.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Monastic Wisdom Theology: Insights from William of St Thierry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Andrew Lord
Andrew Lord
Affiliation:
andylord@freenet.co.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Anglicanism has seen a revived interest in monasticism alongside a desire to develop contemporary forms of theological education. These two concerns have much in common given the educational aspects of monasticism, and yet little has been done to bring them together. This article explores the theological method of William of St Thierry and considers the contribution it makes to an ‘Anglican way’ of theological education for today. In particular, his aim to develop theology that engages the reader with God in such a way as to promote virtue brings together the intellectual, worship and pastoral aspects of theological education. His contribution can help deepen an Anglican way and challenge new monastic communities to engage with theology. It also contributes to the development of ‘wisdom theology’ that concerns a number of contemporary theologians.

Keywords

monasticismtheological educationvirtueCelticwisdom
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , June 2007 , pp. 109 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore) and The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Consider, for example, the work of Anglican priests David Adam and Ray Simpson drawing on traditions from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

2. Williams, Rowan, ‘Theological Education in the Anglican Communion’, Journal of Anglican Studies 3.2 (2005), pp. 237–39 (237).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Evans, G. R. (ed.), The Medieval Theologians (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), p. xixGoogle Scholar. This article was developed in conversation with Gill Evans who introduced me to this period of Christian life and thought.

4. Evans, G. R., Old Arts and New Theology: The Beginnings of Theology as an Academic Discipline (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), pp. 8–15.Google Scholar

5. Knowles, David, The Evolution of Medieval Thought (London: Longmans, 1962), pp. 79–80.Google Scholar

6. Evans, , Medieval Theologians, p. xixGoogle Scholar; Stiegman, Emero, ‘Bernard of Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, the Victorines’Google Scholar, in Evans, (ed.), The Medieval Theologians, p. 129.Google Scholar

7. Anselm, , ‘Proslogion’, in Monologion, Proslogion, Debate with Gaunilo and Meditation on Human Redemption (trans. Hopkins, Jasper and Richardshon, Herbert; London: SCM Press, 1974), Preface.Google Scholar

8. Burgess, John, ‘Celtic Spirituality: A Re-Invented Tradition for 21st Century Mission,’ in Mellor, Howard and Yates, Timothy (eds.), Mission and Spirituality: Creative Ways of Being Church (Sheffield: Cliff College Publishing, 2002) p. 162.Google Scholar

9. Charry, Ellen T., By the Renewing of Your Minds: The Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).Google Scholar

10. Charry, , By the Renewing, p. 5.Google Scholar

11. Charry, , By the Renewing, p. 4.Google Scholar

12. Charry, , By the Renewing, p. 233.Google Scholar

13. Charry, , By the Renewing, p. 5.Google Scholar

14. Charry, , By the Renewing, p. 238.Google Scholar

15. In the terminology of Christian, William, Charry, , By the Renewing, p. 5.Google Scholar

16. Hardy, Daniel W., Finding the Church (London: SCM Press, 2001), p. 44.Google Scholar

17. Hardy, , Finding the Church, pp. 41, 43, 46.Google Scholar

18. St Thierry, William, The Enigma of Faith (Cistercian Fathers Series: Number 9; trans. Anderson, John D.; Washington: Consortium Press, 1973), p. 1.Google Scholar

19. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 1.Google Scholar

20. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 18.Google Scholar

21. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 3.Google Scholar

22. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 13.Google Scholar

23. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 21.Google Scholar

24. St Thierry, , Enigma, pp. 11, 7.Google Scholar

25. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 11.Google Scholar

26. Anderson, John D., ‘Introduction’, in The Enigma of Faith (trans. Anderson, John D.; Washington: Cistercian Publications, 1974), p. 11.Google Scholar

27. Stiegman, , ‘Bernard, William, Victorines’, p. 140.Google Scholar

28. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 11.Google Scholar

29. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 22.Google Scholar

30. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 74 n. 288.Google Scholar

31. St Thierry, , Enigma, pp. 85, 87.Google Scholar

32. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 18.Google Scholar

33. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 5, 4.Google Scholar

34. Bell, David N., The Image and Likeness: The Augustinian Spirituality of William of St Thierry (Cistercian Studies Series, 78; Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1984), p. 126.Google Scholar

35. Bell, , Image and Likeness, p. 128.Google Scholar

36. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 36.Google Scholar

37. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 37.Google Scholar

38. St Thierry, , Enigma, p. 39.Google Scholar

39. Anderson, , ‘Introduction’, p. 16.Google Scholar

40. Déchanet, J. M., ‘Introduction’, in St Thierry, William, Exposition on the Song of Songs (Cistercian Fathers Series, 6; trans. Hart, Mother Columba; Shannon: Irish University Press, 1969), pp. ix–x.Google Scholar

41. Déchanet, , ‘Introduction’, p. xxviii.Google Scholar

42. St Thierry, , Exposition, 1 (p. 4).Google Scholar

43. St Thierry, , Exposition, 3 (5).Google Scholar

44. Déchanet, , ‘Introduction’, pp. xi–xii.Google Scholar

45. St Thierry, , Exposition, 1 (3).Google Scholar

46. St Thierry, , Exposition, 1 (3–4).Google Scholar

47. St Thierry, , Exposition, 10 (10).Google Scholar

48. For the background to these approaches to Scripture see de Lubac, Henri, Medieval Exegesis. I. The Four Senses of Scripture (trans. Sebanc, Mark; Ressourcement; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1998), pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

49. Stiegman, , ‘Bernard, William, Victorines’, p. 140.Google Scholar

50. Evans, G. R., Bernard of Clairvaux (Great Medieval Thinkers; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 62–63.Google Scholar

51. St Thierry, , Exposition, 26 (21).Google Scholar

52. St Thierry, , Exposition, 27 (p. 22)Google Scholar; Déchanet, , ‘Introduction’, p. xiv.Google Scholar

53. St Thierry, , Exposition, 26 (21).Google Scholar

54. St Thierry, , Exposition, 28 (23), 50 (40).Google Scholar

55. St Thierry, , Exposition, 19 (14).Google Scholar

56. St Thierry, , Exposition, 28 (22–23).Google Scholar

57. St Thierry, , Exposition, 57 (46).Google Scholar

58. St Thierry, , Exposition, 57 (46).Google Scholar

59. St Thierry, , Exposition, 31 (26).Google Scholar

60. Déchanet, , ‘Introduction’, pp. xli–xliii.Google Scholar

61. Council, Archbishops, Formation for Ministry Within a Learning Church, GS1496 (London: Church House Publishing, 2003).Google Scholar

62. See, for example, the understanding of formation given in Archbishops Council, Formation for Ministry, 3.11, 29.Google Scholar

63. Archbishops Council, Formation for Ministry, 4.12, 4.13, 41.Google Scholar

64. For example, the importance of communities of devotion as a context for training, Archbishops Council, Formation for Ministry, 3.7, 28.Google Scholar

65. An interesting step in this direction has been taken by the pentecostal scholar Yong, Amos, Spirit-Word-Community: Theological Hermeneutics in Trinitarian Perspective (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2002).Google Scholar

66. See the pertinent comments of Christian historian and theologian Bradly, Ian in Colonies of Heaven: Celtic Models for Today's Church (London: Darton Longman and Todd, 2000), pp. vii–x.Google Scholar

67. Simpson, Ray, Church of the Isles: A Prophetic Strategy for Renewal (Buxhall: Kevin Mayhew, 2003), pp. 61–92Google Scholar; Simpson, Ray, A Pilgrim Way: New Celtic Monasticism for Everyday People (Buxhall: Kevin Mayhew, 2005), pp. 63–79.Google Scholar

68. Simpson does stress that theologically the Trinity is key to Celtic spirituality, but there is little theological exposition, Simpson, Ray, Exploring Celtic Spirituality: Historic Roots for Our Future (Buxhall: Kevin Mayhew, 2004 [1995]), p. 10.Google Scholar