Abstract
St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), the great abbot of the Cistercian Order, was the subject of a number of sermons during the long reign of King Louis XIV of France, the Sun King (1643–1715). David Bell has here written a superb introduction to the theology of the time and successfully contrasts this with modern views on questions such as mortal sin and confession. He gives an excellent overview of the history of the 17th century, including the French Wars of Religion, the Edict of Nantes and Quietism. His introduction and overview of Quietism is of particular importance, since this heresy and the concerns surrounding it are the reasons for the lack of reference to Bernard’s mysticism in the sermons, although this is a significant element of Bernard’s theology. Bell has a truly excellent summary of the controversy surrounding the Quietist movement and the ideas of Mme Guyon, Fénelon and their dispute with Bossuet. By avoiding these ideas, preachers were able to avoid the risk of slipping into heresy and thereby being condemned, as was Fénelon when he tried to present Mme Guyon’s ideas in more acceptable terms. Sermons were an important part of French society, and in the absence of other forms of entertainment, this was a suitable replacement. The Council of Trent had suggested that they should usually last 15–30 minutes, but on important occasions they could be longer. The sermons in this book would all have lasted longer and perhaps over an hour on some occasions.
In this book, David Bell has presented a number of sermons (panegyrics) on the life and theology of St Bernard as they were delivered by a number of prominent 17th-century preachers, from the famous Bossuet, Fénelon and de Rancé to the lesser known Boudon, Lion and Anselme. Most of the sermons are translated in full into good, flowing English and some sermons have not previously been translated. Each chapter gives an excellent introduction to the life of the preacher and comments on his style and content. Bell includes good footnotes throughout the text, giving relevant biblical references, comments on the preacher’s translation of Latin or his own translation of the original French text. Where Bell did not consider the panegyric to be worthy of a full translation, but nonetheless significant enough to be included, he has written an excellent summary of each text, and we have the sense of what it contains. The final chapter contains a discussion of many of the French terms, which have a significant theological meaning, and which benefit from greater discussion and understanding. This section is certainly worthwhile and many readers will wish to refer to it as they read the sermons. Frequent reference is made to this chapter in Bell’s footnotes.
David Bell has a very readable literary style, which is reminiscent of speech; perhaps this book is the result of a series of lectures, which contain a great deal of humour as well as serious remarks. Even if a person does not wish to read all the sermons, nonetheless the detailed introductions give an excellent sense of the theological and historical scene in 17th-century France, which is worth reading for anyone who is interested in this area of research.