Levavi oculos meos in montes

 "Two series of texts have exercised a decisive, constant, and universal influence on the origin and development of medieval monastic culture in the West, and they contain in germ and two essential components of this culture:  grammar and spirituality.   These two groups of texts are those connected with St Benedict, and those of a Doctor of the Church who was very close to him in all respects, St Gregory the Great.   These texts must be examined in succession and they will afford an opportunity to define terms and to recall ideas which are essential to an understanding of all that follows.  We begin to follow the sublime path pointed out by St Bernard in a humble and austere fashion:  angusto initio ." The Love of Learning and the Desire for God  This is the beginning of Chapter 1 of the book and bridges from the Introduction where Leclercq talked about scholastic and monastic theology in the 12th century.  Now we are tracing monasticis...

 I receive the Thomas Aquinas College quarterly newsletter, since 2 of my kids graduated from TAC (and quite a few of my friends and acquaintances and their children); and today I went to the new issue of their Aquinas Review , which is a scholarly journal, published by the college on a semi-annual basis.   On its front matter section I find this:  Consistent with the nature of the College, The Aquinas Review is marked by fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and a respect for the great tradition of liberal learning, which is our common heritage.  It's not that this statement is odd or remarkable; but it struck me suddenly because the bolded part in particular seems like something all Catholic publications should abide by but not all do nowadays.  At least, if you don't plan to do so, it would be good to warn your readers that this is not your plan.   Now that I am thinking about it, I am going to check whenever I am reading an artic...

The Shibboleth of Fëanor is the eleventh chapter of The Peoples of Middle-earth. It primarily concerns the titular essay by J.R.R. Tolkien, which discusses the shift from þ (as in English 'thing') to s in the spoken 'Exilic' dialect of Quenya, and how this phonological change was intimately connected to historical and political circumstances. Also included however are lengthy 'excursuses' from this essay regarding Elven 'mother-names', the parentage of Gil-galad, the westward migration of the Edain, and the names of various prominent Noldor.  Tolkien Gateway I came across the word Shibboleth  in a sociological context.   Apparently it has a robust variety of meanings, from the use of code language or words to mark insiders from outsiders, to a connotation of an outdated but obstinately held convention or belief.   There is even an infotech meaning, where you have a community password that lets people log in automatically.  Or something like that. ...

  Former posts on this topic: Love of Letters and Learning Leclercq on Monastic Culture Learning and Spirituality Before leaving Leclercq's Introduction, I wanted to note some of the distinctions he makes between scholastic and monastic culture in the 12th century.     As he has mentioned in his preface, because of the nature of his topic and the form in which he is addressing it, he can only sketch or outline themes and topics that would deserve book length treatment in themselves. Leclercq was a notable scholar of medieval history, who investigated primary source material throughout his life, and of course had read the work of many other scholars, both religious and secular.    And he was a monk himself.   In order (I would suppose) to get across his thesis briefly and yet clearly and with avenues left open for further investigation, he frequently uses a "parallel lives" or at least "parallel texts" method of laying two sources alongside each ot...

 I have just finished reading From Grace to Grace:  Memoirs of Jean Leclercq .    You can read a bit about the book here :   When Jean Leclerq entered the Abbey of Clervaux at age 17 in 1928, he wanted only to be a monk. In the years that followed he found "grace upon grace" as his desire for God and love of learning found rich expression in the life of a warm, joyful priest and internationally renowned monastic scholar. A summary of his life and work is here .  Basically, the book came about, as he writes in his preface, because friends encouraged him to write it.  He resisted initially;  Henri de Lubac, one of his many friends, told him it was a duty, and added:  "Do it, before you lose your memory."     Still, even as the book went to print, he had qualms, not liking to talk about himself in print.   This shows in his book, but in a rather charming way.   He was a world traveller, sent by his Abbey t...