Jon M. Sweeney

I frankly don't know what to say about this book. When I started, I almost quit. The Saint, in the title, is Bernard of Clairvaux. In the first third of the book, he is made out to be a bully. The Scholar is Peter Abelard. Both are extraordinarily learned. Both were good and honest, as well as thoroughly uncharitable. Both expected, even demanded, respect for their positions because of who they were. And the sub-title of the book, "The Fight between Faith and Reason," is the shorthand description that has been used so much in the past and is so misleading. Taken to their extremes, Faith implies nothing else needs to be learned; Reason implies Faith simply cannot exist.
To his credit, Jon Sweeney moves the book at a fairly rapid pace with a jab or two of irony and humor here and there.
My supposition is that "the Fight" will continue so long as humans exist. And that's too bad. As Sweeney argues, if Bernard and Peter took the time, they would have found much about which they would agree in their writings but neither was willing to acknowledge any good in the other. And that situation applies in much of human learning today. Strong positions seemingly must condemn anything and everything that is not directly supportive to one side or the other. In actuality, there is much about which we can all agree. Sadly, it just seems to be human nature to approach issues from extremes and to ignore any middle ground.… (altro)