Fictions of the Inner Life: Religious Literature and Formation of the Self in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (review)

The term 'know thyself' may be as relevant today as it was in twelfth century religious communities but the meaning of this phrase is quite different. Then the quest was not for self-knowledge and individuality. Rather, the development and examination of the inner life was part of the process of interiorization; a formation of the inner self in order to ascend to the knowledge of God. The difference between the modern interpretation of 'knowing oneself' and that in the Middle Ages is made clear by Spijker in her introduction. 'The "inner man" is the subject, in the sense of the vehicle of "experience" which takes such an important place in the religiosity of the age, whether related to "affects" or "cognition". Modern definitions of experience do not necessarily apply' (p. 9).

Training or formation of novices was necessarily adapted as adults, rather than child oblates, applied to enter. Entering the monastery was the first step towards a total conversion of one's life, and the steps which one needed to follow to attain detachment from worldliness, and spiritual advancement were provided in treatises. The approaches recommended by four writers of such 'spiritual handbooks' are described in this book.

That all four writers are male is indicative of the era, when men wrote for men and women had to make do. Nevertheless there were women writing on spiritual matters at this time, the most notable being Hildegard of Bingen. There is much in her work, including her letters, which may have made a valuable comparison to the approach of her male contemporaries.

In fact only a small section of the abundance of religious literature from the eleventh and twelfth centuries is considered. Spijker has chosen to 'treat a limited number of authors, and to connect their writing on instruction with their other works – and revealing, in the process, the instructional, pedagogical character of these other works' (p. 15). In choosing these authors she has striven to 'illustrate different aspects which are important to an understanding of the twelfth-century notion of "inner life": monastic tradition, theological-anthropological concepts, exegetical procedures, and the role of "affects" and experience' (p. 15). Better known exponents such as Bernard of Clairvaux, Anselm of Canterbury and Abelard are not treated in detail although referred to throughout the text.

The Introduction, as well as examining the traditional background to the concept of the interior man, gives some insight into the four religious writers, including the relationship between their ideas and the points on which they differ. Thus it sets the frame of reference very clearly. It may seem too narrow a focus, but in the chapters which follow, much of the wider writing of the four men, not simply that pertaining to the 'inner man', is described, putting the theme into a wider context. In this sense, the book is valuable for the study of monastic life in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The first writer covered is Peter Damian. His views are developed in the context of the tradition of Benedictine monasticism and the Desert Fathers. His approach is militant with an emphasis on physical ascesis and ascetic championship. The isolation of the hermit's life, in a loose form of community, is cited as the ideal.

Hugh of Saint-Victor and Richard of Saint-Victor are examined separately in the third and fourth chapters. Hugh is described as 'a thinker and writer on the crossroads of various developments, combining Augustinian and Dionysian elements for example, and especially of developments of the character of theology, a word which only started to receive its modern definition in Hugh's time' (pp. 127-28). Richard was Hugh's pupil and his work follows and develops that of his teacher. His approach is to 'incorporate thoughts and feelings, free will and intentions in his exegesis, as the material...