Sit finis libri, sed non finis quaerendi. Preliminary Clarifications on Bernard of Clairvaux, On Consideration

The present article is an approach to Bernard of Clairvaux’s treaty On Consideration. Its reading follows the arguments of a thesis according to which this text has a political theology dimension and it could be included in a history on the evolution of the concept “state of exception”, as it was defined by Giorgio Agamben. The primary argument is that Bernard, in order to convince Pope Eugene III of the need to resume the crusade, used the patristic concepts of spiritual formation to legitimise the Pope’s right to make political decisions above the rules, in the name of the divine inspiration of the one who was formed spiritually.

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