" Sensuous
metaphors from the Song of Songs and the Psalms are again and again
intermingled with these lofty thoughts. But in spite of his divine
emotion, in spite of his anticipations of the German mystics, Bernard
took the standpoint of ecclesiastical orthodoxy whenever he was not in
the ecstatic state; his contemplative mind was unable to grasp the
importance of independent thought, a fact amply proved by his inglorious
quarrel with Abelard, the greatest thinker of his time. This quarrel was
a typical illustration of the difference between the believer and the
thinker. Bernard forgot all about love, and did not hesitate to stir up
unpleasantness whenever he could do so. So he wrote to Pope Innocent
II.: "Peter Abelard is striving to destroy the Christian faith, and
imagines that his human intellect can penetrate the depths of the divine
mind.... Nothing is hidden from him, neither in the earth below, nor in
the heavens above; his intellectual pride exceeds all limits; he attacks
the doctrines of faith, and ponders problems far above his intellectual
capacity; he is an inventor of heresies .
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