Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 52 William of Saint-Thierry
Great Christian Thinkers - 52 William of Saint-Thierry
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
William of Saint-Thierry The biographer of Bernard of Clairveaux, and a friend who esteemed him, was William of Saint-Thierry, on whom I reflect in this chapter… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 51 Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor
Great Christian Thinkers - 51 Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor I have been presenting exemplary figures of believers dedicated to showing the harmony between reason and faith and to witnessing with their lives to the proclamation of the gospel… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 50 Bernard and Peter Abelard: Two Contrasting Theological Models
Great Christian Thinkers - 50 Bernard and Peter Abelard: Two Contrasting Theological Models
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Bernard and Peter Abelard:Two Contrasting Theological Models In my last chapter, I presented the main features of twelfth-century monastic theology and scholastic theology which, in a certain sense, we might call respectively “theology of the heart” and “theology of reason.” Amon…
Great Christian Thinkers - 49 St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Great Christian Thinkers - 49 St. Bernard of Clairvaux
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Bernard of Clairvaux St. Bernard of Clairvaux is often called “the last of the Fathers” of the Church because once again in the twelfth century he renewed and brought to the fore the important theology of the Fathers… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 48 Peter the Venerable
Great Christian Thinkers - 48 Peter the Venerable
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Peter the Venerable Peter the Venerable takes us back to the famous abbey of Cluny, to its decor (“decorum”) and nitor (“clarity”), to use terms that recur in the Cluny texts - a decorum and splendour that were admired especially in the beauty of the liturgy, a privileged way for…
Great Christian Thinkers - 47 St. Anselm
Great Christian Thinkers - 47 St. Anselm
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Anselm The Benedictine abbey of Sant’Anselmo (St. Anselm) is located on the Aventine Hill in Rome. As the headquarters of an academic institute of higher studies and of the abbot primate of the Confederated Benedictines, it is a place that unites within it prayer, study, and …
Great Christian Thinkers - 46 Symeon The New Theologian
Great Christian Thinkers - 46 Symeon The New Theologian
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Symeon The New Theologian Also bearing reflection from this period is an Eastern monk, Symeon the New Theologian, whose writings have had a notable influence on the theology and spirituality of the East, in particular with regard to the experience of mystical union with God… Take…
Great Christian Thinkers - 45 St. Peter Damian
Great Christian Thinkers - 45 St. Peter Damian
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Peter Damian One of the most significant figures of the eleventh century, St. Peter Damian, was a monk, a lover of solitude, and at the same time a fearless man of the Church. He was also committed personally to the task of reform, initiated by the popes of the time… Taken fr…
Great Christian Thinkers - 44 St. Odo of Cluny
Great Christian Thinkers - 44 St. Odo of Cluny
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Odo of Cluny We resume the presentation of important writers of the Eastern and Western Church in the Middle Ages because in their lives and writings we see, as in a mirror, what it means to be Christian. One such luminous figure is St. Odo, abbot of Cluny… Taken from Great C…
Great Christian Thinkers - 43 Sts. Cyril and Methodius
Great Christian Thinkers - 43 Sts. Cyril and Methodius
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Sts. Cyril and Methodius Saints Cyril and Methodius were brothers by blood and in the faith, the so-called Apostles to the Slavs. Cyril was born in Thessalonica to Leo, an imperial magistrate, in 826 or 827. He was the youngest of seven. As a child, he learned the Slavonic langua…
Great Christian Thinkers - 42 John Scotus Erigena
Great Christian Thinkers - 42 John Scotus Erigena
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
John Scotus Erigena Though a noteworthy thinker of the Christian West, John Scotus Erigena’s origins are nonetheless obscure. He certainly came from Ireland, where he was born at the beginning of the ninth century. But we do not know when he left his island to cross the channel a…
Great Christian Thinkers - 41 Rabanus Maurus
Great Christian Thinkers - 41 Rabanus Maurus
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Rabanus Maurus A truly extraordinary figure of the Latin West, Rabanus Maurus was an exceptional and prolific monk. Together with men such as Isidore of Seville and the Venerable Bede and Ambrose Autpert, two of whom I have spoken previously, during the centuries of the so-called…
Great Christian Thinkers - 40 St Theodore The Studite
Great Christian Thinkers - 40 St Theodore The Studite
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St Theodore The Studite The saint we meet now, St. Theodore the Studite, brings us to the middle of the medieval Byzantine period, in a somewhat turbulent period from the religious and political perspectives… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by Pope Benedict XVI
Great Christian Thinkers - 39 John Damascene
Great Christian Thinkers - 39 John Damascene
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
John Damascene John Damascene was a personage of prime importance in the history of Byzantine theology and a great doctor in the history of the universal Church. Above all, he was an eyewitness of the passage from the Greek and Syrian Christian cultures shared by the Eastern part…
Great Christian Thinkers - 38 Germanus of Constantinople
Great Christian Thinkers - 38 Germanus of Constantinople
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Germanus of Constantinople Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople does not belong among the most representative figures of the Greek-speaking world of Eastern Christianity. Yet his name appears with a certain solemnity in the list of the great champions of sacred images drafted by …
Great Christian Thinkers - 37 St. Boniface, Apostle of The Germans
Great Christian Thinkers - 37 St. Boniface, Apostle of The Germans
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Boniface, Apostle of The Germans We reflect here on a great eighth-century missionary who spread Christianity in central Europe—indeed, also in my own country: St. Boniface, who has gone down in history as “the Apostle of the Germans.”… Taken from Great Christian Thinkers by …
Great Christian Thinkers - 36 Bede the Venerable
Great Christian Thinkers - 36 Bede the Venerable
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
Bede the Venerable The saint we are approaching now is called Bede and was born in the northeast of England; to be exact, Northumbria, in the year 672 or 673. He himself recounts that when he was seven years old his parents entrusted him to the abbot of the neighbouring Benedicti…
Great Christian Thinkers - 35 John Climacus