Bernard\u27s sermonic performance of the Song of songs

Analyzes the method of 12th century Cistercian Bernard of Clairvaux as his reading both shapes and is shaped by his personal monastic devotion. Bernard reaches attention to the self through reflection on the smallest fragments of the Word, and by weaving them together in an active reading establishes the trajectory that will lead him to the telos of the monastic life, which is to make the person wholly available to God and prepare in hope for the gift of his coming. Bernard interacts with the text by projecting himself into its world. In a close textual analysis of a key section in his Sermons on the Song of songs, we observe Bernard perceiving his vocation as a lifetime performance of scripture, interpreting sacred writ and his life circumstances in light of each other as a guide to living that properly honors God