MY BELOVED IS MINE AND I AM HIS: SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN THE ...

would undertake their own, similar journey of self-understanding. In attending to these
ecclesiological and Christological dimensions of the abbot’s doctrine, we hope to show
that Bernard’s work contains a truly “doctrinal” spirituality, a rich account of life in the
Spirit that emerges neither apart from nor in contradiction to the Church’s dogmatic
formulations, but precisely through careful theological reflection on these truths of the
faith.
Method and Overview
Since abbot Bernard has left us no single work devoted specifically to the subject
of self-knowledge, we will have to develop this more comprehensive picture of his
doctrine through a close reading and exegesis of salient texts from throughout his corpus,
with its rich variety of genres and styles. In adopting this approach, we are guided by
two fundamental presuppositions concerning the abbot’s thought. First, as scholars since
Gilson have suggested, we presuppose that Bernard’s corpus, despite the largely
occasional character of the works it contains, nevertheless gives witness to a
comprehensive, systematic theological vision which informs all the abbot’s various
writings. Second, and again as scholars since Gilson have suggested, Bernard’s
comprehensive, systematic theology is already present in his very first treatise, On the
Steps of Humility and Pride, composed in 1125 when abbot Bernard was thirty-five years
of age. As Roch Kerestzy has written: “The student of his works can hardly avoid the
conclusion that Bernard has thought through the ultimate theological and philosophical
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