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

foundations of man’s return to God.” 32 Though he concedes that Bernard’s works contain
numerous, shifting schematizations of this return to God, Kereszty argues that behind
these manifold paradigms lies “an integral and consistent vision of all reality, complete
with a metaphysic, anthropology, epistemology and experiential psychology” and that
“this unified vision appears already in the De Gradibus Humilitatis and, with some minor
changes, remains consistent throughout Bernard’s career.” 33 Following Kereszty’s
observation, this dissertation will devote special consideration to Bernard’s teaching in
the Steps and take that teaching as the foundation for all Bernard’s subsequent reflections
on self-knowledge and its place in the spiritual life.
Our study of Bernard’s doctrine of self-knowledge will unfold in four chapters.
In Chapter 1, we will attempt to offer a sort of “overture” to Bernard’s comprehensive
vision, introducing many of the main themes to be developed in subsequent chapters. To
do so, we will undertake a careful reading of Bernard’s thirty-fourth through thirty-eighth
Sermons on the Song of Songs. Here the abbot comments on a verse of the Canticle that
has been of great significance for the Christian tradition of thought on self-knowledge,
namely, Sg 1:7: “If you do not know yourself, most beautiful of women, go forth, and
follow after the flocks of your companions, and feed your kids beside the shepherd’s
tents.” Bernard’s sermons on these verses have often been cited as evidence of the
importance he attaches to humbling self-knowledge in the experience of conversion and
the foundational stages of the spiritual life, and they do indeed provide ample witness to
Age,” 271.
Age,” 271-272.
32 Kereszty, “Relationship between Anthropology and Christology. St. Bernard, a Teacher for Our
33 Kereszty, “Relationship between Anthropology and Christology. St. Bernard, a Teacher for Our
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