Table Of Content“Be You as Living Stones Built Up, a
Spiritual House, a Holy Priesthood”:
Cistercian Exegesis, Reform, and the
Construction of Holy Architectures
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Citation Baker, Timothy Michael. 2015. “Be You as Living Stones Built Up, a
Spiritual House, a Holy Priesthood”: Cistercian Exegesis, Reform,
and the Construction of Holy Architectures. Doctoral dissertation,
Harvard Divinity School.
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“Be You as Living Stones Built Up, A Spiritual House, A Holy Priesthood”:
Cistercian Exegesis, Reform, and the Construction of Holy Architectures
A dissertation presented
by
Timothy Michael Baker
to
The Faculty of Harvard Divinity School
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Theology
in the subject of
History of Christianity
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
August, 2015
© 2015 Timothy Michael Baker
All rights reserved.
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Kevin James Madigan Timothy M. Baker
“Be You as Living Stones Built Up, A Spiritual House, A Holy Priesthood”:
Cistercian Exegesis, Reforms, and the Construction of Holy Architectures
ABSTRACT
The development of the Cistercian Odrer in the twelfth centuryc ame as a product of a
number of eleventh-century reforms. These reforms affected all strata of societ,y and they
impacted the way in which medieval European Christians viewed themselves, their social,
political, and theologica lstructures, the world around them, and their relationship to the
Christian narrative of salvation history and sechatology. The early Cistercians built their “new
monastery” (novum monasterium) upon an apostolic foundation of austerity and poverty,
informed by a “return” to theR ule of Benedict as the program for their daily ritual and liturgical
lives. These Cistercians centered their monastic “way of life”c (onversatio) around the pursuit of
ascent into God, seeking to become “citizens among the saintasn d members of the household of
God.”
The language of twelfth-century Cistercian ascension theology drew from a number of
scriptural motifs for its expression. For example,B ernard of Clairvaux described his monastery
as the “heavenly Jerusalem” and his monks as “Jerusalemites”; Aelred of Rievaulx spoke of
“living stones,” building up the Temple of Jerusalem and rising up assa cred incense; and
Helinand of Froidmont exhorted his monks to climb the mountain with Christ and to raise up
within themselves a Temple of “living stones,” becoming bearers of Christ like Mary, his holy
mother. In the case of these and other Cistrecian exegetes, the goal remained the same: by
interpreting Christian scripture and tradition, Cistercian theologians sought to transformhe t
monastery into a sacred space, bridging the gap between the human world and the realm of God,
ii i
so that they, and their brethren, might ascend “as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood.”
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction:
A Voice Crying Out From the Wildernes s 1
Chapter I:
Building a Kingdom, Old and New 37
Chapter II:
Citizens Among the Saints and Members of the Household of Go d 109
Chapter III:
Raising a Temple of “Living Stones” 179
Conclusion:
Be You as Living Stones Built Up, A Spiritual House, A Holy Priesthoo d 251
Appendix I:
Helinand of Froidmont’s Sermon on the Assumption of Mar y 261
Works Cited 281
v
FOR MY PARENTS
Et erunt ut conplaceant eloquia oris mei
et meditatio cordis mei in conspectu tuo sempe r
Domine adiutor meus et redemptor meu s
v i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For a project that regards monastic liminality and practices of ascension, it eisn tirely
appropriate to begin by acknowledging those who have conducted me up the mountain of
graduate school to itsc ulmination. Students of religion might characterize them as the “teachers
of the sacra,” as the instructors of those holy mysteries necessary to ascend from one state of
being to another; truly, they are the guides of this particular rite of passage. Thus,a cI knowledge
and thank, with the highest possible praise, Kevin J. Madigan, Beverly M. Kienzle, and Jon D.
Levenson. I am much indebted to their wisdom, their compassion, andh etir unfailing generosity .
The possibility of undertaking this project required familiarity with, and interest in, the
examination and interpretation of medieval manuscripts. In this, and in many other regards, I am
grateful to M. Michèle Mulchahey (PIMS U, niversity of Toronto) for accepting me into her
program in manuscript studies, for instilling in me a passion for paleographical pursuits, and for
remaining a valuable friend and resource as I pursue my own editorial projects in rare book
collections at home and abroad. I also extend my gratitude to Patrick Latour, curator of the
Bibliothèque Mazarine (Paris, France), who graciously and openly welcomed me into the library
while I was examining and editing Helinand’s sermon s.
While researching and writing this project, I have been living away from the city streets
of Cambridge, on a mountain and in the woods of Vermont near Dartmouth College, the place
where I first read Jean Leclercq’s formativeT he Love of Learning and the Desire for Go.d Back
in the place where my academic journey once began, I hasten to thank Christopher MacEvitt and
Ehud Benor in the department of Religion, Cecilia Gaposchkin in History, and Paul Christesen in
Classics. The interest that each of them has shown in my work, and the thuoghtful suggestions
that each has made to my endeavor, both encourages me and strengthens my scholarsh ip.
vi i
In addition to erudite guides on my intellectual excursion, I am most grateful and most
fortunate to have had the very best of companions to share my struggles along the way. Kathryn
Kunkel, who administrates the Th.D. program at Harvard, has always proven to be a valuable
resource and a helping hand; my colleagues and I are fortunate to have her on our climb.
Amanda Czechowski, Jonathan Dame, Jennifer Dame, and Carolyn Hooper Goetinck are most
deserving of special praise and acknowledgement. Truly the very best of friends for which
anyone might hope, Amanda’s steadfast kindness, Jon’s strong and grounding presence, Jenn’s
playful enthusiasm, and Carolyn’s gentle and abiding wisdom makes each of them an invaluable
companion and very much beloved. Their abiding friendship brightens every new path with the
promise of adventure, and I owe much to each of them.
Finally, I wish to thank my parents—Michael Baker, Diane and James Myers. Their
constant and enduring love and support has enabled this dissertation to come to fruition. No
matter where my journey leads, they are always there to keep me safe. They are surely worthy of
the highest honor, and I remain ever grateful to them. I am really and truly blessed to be their
son; for that reason, I dedicate this work to them.
Timothy M. Baker
August 15, 2015
In Assumptione Beatae Mariae
vi ii
Introduction
A Voice Crying Out from the Wilderness
Hear, O heavens, the words which I speak; let the earth pay heed to the words of
my mouth… in a wasteland He found him, in a place of horror and of vast
wilderness. He led him around, and he taught him; he cared for him as the pupil
1
of his eye.
Many, if not most, students of medieval history have read Jean Leclercq’s The Love of
2
Learning and the Desire for God. Noteworthy both for its beauty and for its erudition,
Leclercq’s “study of monastic culture” presents the reader with an image of the twelfth-century
monastery transformed from an earthly cloister into a heavenly abode, a “Jerusalem in
anticipation,” by the power of words and actions encoded in liturgy, song, daily rituals, lectio
divina (or the practice of meditative reading on sacred texts), and the intracommunal attempt to
ascend into God. This staple of undergraduate and graduate classrooms endures in relevance
even among senior medievalists, who continue to agree with and to cite The Love of Learning
and the Desire for God alongside Leclercq’s more advanced corpus of interpretive and editorial
projects. Many classroom texts lose some of their savor as one progresses “from milk to solid
food,” to borrow a metaphor from the Apostle Paul (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:2), but The Love of
Learning and the Desire for God remains intellectually nourishing for scholars of all levels.
1
[All translations are mine unless noted or cited otherwise.] “Audite, caeli, quae loquor: audiat
terra verba oris mei.… Invenit eum in terra deserta, in loco horroris, et vastae solitudinis:
circumduxit eum, et docuit: et custodivit quasi pupillam oculi sui”; from the Song of Moses
(Deuteronomy 32:1–43, here vv. 1, 10).
2
Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture,
trans. Catherine Misrahi, 3rd ed. (New York: Fordham University Press, 1982).
1
