next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: The Development of William of Saint-Thierry's Theology of Deification Subtitle: A Comparative Analysis of Unitas Spiritus from the Early to the Late Works Author(s): CHENG, Ngo Hin Journal: Ons Geestelijk Erf Volume: 95 Issue: 1-2 Date: 2025 Pages: 1-26 DOI: 10.2143/OGE.95.1.3295153 Abstract : This article argues for a shift of William’s theology of deification by exploring a shift of the theme 'unity of spirit' from a Pneumatological focus to a Trinitarian framework. The works written during his abbacy, On Contemplating God and Meditations, have a Pneumatological focus, whilst the works which were composed when he retired to Signy, Exposition on the Song of Songs, The Mirror of Faith, and The Golden Epistle, have a Trinitarian framework. To support this verdict, this article presents the content of William’s idea of unitas spiritus from each of the aforementioned five works of William and conduct comparative analyses among them. The result shows that the ideas of spiritual unity from first two works are Pneumatological in focus, while the three later works have a Trinitarian framework. Specifically, the spiritual unity depicted in the first two works focussed on the soul being united to the Holy Spirit as a person, while the later three works explored the wider implications of the Trinitarian image of God in the soul and the soul’s unity with the Holy Spirit as the relation of the Father and the Son. This shift happened after William’s long-desired retirement from his abbacy and during his undisturbed period as a simple Cistercian monk at Signy. Therefore, this article attributes this shift to be the fruit of his integration and syntheses of his theological ideas, his knowledge of the Church Fathers (especially Augustine), and his insightful moral reading of the Song of Songs at a leisurely contemplative environment. This article concludes with the discovery of a shift in William’s theology of deification and the idea of unity of spirit, and it successfully confirms Elder’s claim that William’s works could be divided between those before and after his retirement from his abbacy. |
|
