Introduction

Summary

This truly is the vision of God: Never be satisfied in the desire to see him. But one must always, by looking at what he can see, rekindle his desire to see more. Thus, no limit would interrupt growth in the ascent to God.

THE STUDY OF medieval western Christianity can be the study of many different things. It can be the study of Christian ritual, the liturgy constructed by and shared between various communities around Europe and the Mediterranean. It can be the study of power, the observation of how institutions often used Christian doctrine and law as a means to dominate, conquer, and oppress other peoples. It can be the study of interpersonal relations and “othering” in the medieval world, an examination of the discourse that emerged as Christians constructed themselves against non-Christians, whether that was “heretical” groups, or Muslims or Jews, or others. It can be the study of human invention and the technology of writing and literacy; of developing European economies; of emerging European relationships to geography, space, and to the environment; of the cultural diffusion of different myths, stories, scriptures, and iconographies; of charismatic preachers, saints, and charlatans. The study of medieval Christianity can be a window into almost any topic you can imagine, for it is, at its essence, the study of the emergence of medieval Europe from 500 CE to 1500 CE.

In this book, I am particularly interested in investigating what we can learn about the spirituality of medieval monks and nuns in the eleventh and twelfth centuries by examining their practices of prayer and meditation. I have written these pages so that they can be accessible to many types of readers: to students and scholars new to the medieval monastic world of this period, and to professional medievalists and specialists in monasticism as well. Relative to the topics outlined in the paragraph above, this is, in some ways, a very narrow study. I write here about the emotional, spiritual lives of arguably the most elite and educated people who practiced Christianity in Europe in the medieval period. I focus here not on the liturgies (i.e., the prescribed, ritual practices of psalmody, chant, and readings that filled the monastic days), but rather on monastic extra-liturgical practices, monastic conversations with God outside of these prescriptions.