Folks, I’m having a great time at the 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies here in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Have attended sessions on Dante and Aelred of Riveaulx so far.
What a wonderful group of people are the Cistercian scholars who attend the full slate of sessions in their area (such as the one on Aelred, who is one of their own). They have given their lives to service of God in ways formed by the Cistercian tradition, and it shines from their faces and their conversation. I feel I am in the presence of wisdom.
As for Dante, these presentations have sparkled with the same combination of deep piety and intellectual curiosity that marked the great Florentine. All I have experienced so far has reinforced my decision to focus more on medieval studies in the coming years.
Peace, and more soon!
Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians
Grateful to the dead 