Idea rycerza-zakonnika i jej uzasadnienie w ujęciu św. Bernarda z Clairvaux

Abstract

The article is devoted to the idea of a knight-monk and its justification presented by St. Bernard of Clairvaux in In Praise of the New Knighthood. First, we are following St. Bernard’s argumentation, and then, a broader theoretical context is outlined. The central problem is: how to reconcile the evangelical imperative of loving enemies with the acceptability of leading crusades or, more broadly speaking, armed combat in defense of faith. It has been argued that this problem is just an extreme example of a more universal problem inherent in Christianity, namely the tension between perfection, which, according to the Gospel, man ought to achieve, and his actual imperfection.