Date of Award
Spring 2000
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
First Advisor
Zemler-Cizewski, Wanda
Second Advisor
Gawronski, Raymond
Third Advisor
Golitzin, Alexander
Abstract
Three important interests of mine were incorporated into this dissertation. The first is the doctrine of eschatology. Eschatology is the most pressing issue that I have had to deal with as a parish pastor. People want to know what will happen to them when they die. I have noticed that the modem Christian's expectation of heaven often excludes "the resurrection of the dead" and goes immediately to "the life of the world to come." Most funeral sermons that I hear speak of the person being in heaven, but fail to mention anything of the general resurrection on the Last Day. My own attempts to explain the notion that eternal life will include a resurrected body are often greeted with blank stares. Therefore, I became interested in discovering a little of the history of this doctrine in the Christian Church. My second great interest is Bernard of Clairvaux. I entered graduate studies at Marquette University with a desire to be exposed to a period of Christian history that I had very little contact with in my training to be a Lutheran pastor, namely the Middle Ages. I rapidly became attracted to one of the major figures of this period, Bernard of Clairvaux. I initially was drawn to Bernard because of the favorable reviews that he had received from Martin Luther. Soon I discovered the depth of his spiritual teaching and the influence he had on events of his day. Numerous studies had already been done on Berrnard, but little work had been on his eschatology. My excitement quickened when I discovered that Bernard shared my enthusiasm on the doctrine of the resurrection. The third element of the dissertation came after a frustrating struggle as to the direction the topic should take. A mere study of Bernard's emphasis on the resurrection seemed inadequate. I was convinced that Bernard's desire for union with God would only be fulfilled at the general resurrection on the Last Day. However, if this conviction was so important to Bernard, certainly the consequence of it would surface somewhere in Bernard's life. I turned to another interest of mind, the crusades, for an answer. I had become interested in the crusades for a variety of reasons including the impact they continue to have in our contemporary world. I knew of Bernard's involvement in the Second Crusade, but I did not understand why he became involved. My research indicated that there was little consensus among historians as to why Bernard became involved. The idea that Bernard's eschatology might have something to do with it intrigued me. The more I investigated the matter, the more I was convinced that there was a connection between Bernard's eschatology and his work in promoting the Second Crusade...