Monday, August 20, 2007

St. Bernard and St. Thomas Aquinas

Considering St. Bernard's aversion to dialectic theology (especially if was done by Abelard), my kids asked this morning whether St. Bernard would have liked St. Thomas Aquinas. My cryptic response was to remind them that as his life drew to an end, after the vision on the Feast of St. Nicholas 1273, St. Thomas compared all his work to straw. He later completed his life in a Cistercian monastery while giving conferences to the monks on the Song of Songs. How Bernardine can you get? I'm wondering if St. Bernard wouldn't have said to St. Thomas when they met something like, "Ha!" or maybe a Steven Douglas inspired "Um, I told you so."

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