Embracing God: Essays on the Spiritual Treatises of Aelred of Rievaulx

by Marsha L Dutton, Daniel Heisey Osb (Foreword by), J Stephen Russell (Introduction)

Overview

These spiritual reflections guide their readers toward God’s embrace.
 
In Embracing God, Marsha L. Dutton surveys the interwoven structures and themes of five treatises, showing how Aelred guides his readers to cling forever to God through memory, which is one of the three faculties of God’s image placed in humankind at creation (alongside reason and will). Individual chapters explore meditations on Jesus’ life, spiritual friendship, the eucharistic nature of Cistercian spirituality, and the nature of the soul.     

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879071950
Publisher:	Cistercian Publications
Publication date:	03/11/2025
Series:	Cistercian Studies , #302
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Marsha L. Dutton is the executive editor of Cistercian Publications. Emeritus professor of English at Ohio University, she is the author of many articles and book chapters on a variety of Cistercian subjects. Dutton is also the editor of A Companion to Aelred of Rievaulx (1110–1167) (Brill, 2017), of four volumes of Aelred’s works in translation, and of “Aelred of Rievaulx” and (with Tyler Sergent) “The Cistercians” in the Oxford Bibliographies in Medieval Studies. Her sixteen presentations on Aelred for Schola Cisterciensis appear on YouTube.

Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword   ix
     Daniel J. Heisey, OSB
Preface   xi
Abbreviations   xvii
Introduction   xxi
     J. Stephen Russell
Chapter 1    Clinging to God: The Pedagogy of Memory in Aelred’s Spiritual Treatises   5
Chapter 2    Christ Our Mother: Aelred’s Iconography for Contemplative Union   45
Chapter 3    Friendship and the Love of God: Augustine’s Teaching in the Confessions and Aelred of Rievaulx’s Response in Spiritual Friendship   75
Chapter 4    A Model for Friendship: Ambrose’s Contribution to Aelred of Rievaulx’s Spiritual Friendship   121 
Chapter 5    Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: The Eucharistic Spirituality of the Cistercian Fathers   157
Chapter 6    Intimacy and Imitation: The Humanity of Christ in Cistercian Spirituality   193
Chapter 7    The Cistercian Source: Aelred, Bonaventure, and Ignatius   237
Appendix   Aelred’s Works   269
   Works Cited   279
   Index of Names   297
   General Index   303

Editorial Reviews

"Marsha Dutton's close readings of Aelred's works bring a deeper understanding of a major unifying thread in Aelred's thought—the relationship between human beings and God. This collection of essays underscores the manner in which that relationship informs in unanticipated ways a diverse array of Aelred's texts. From iconographic imagery to theological philosophy, to ideological origins and contexts, the reader will find no shortage of illuminating insights in Dutton's work. Aelred scholars will not be disappointed."
Christopher Coski, professor of French, Ohio University
 

From the Publisher