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[God] sees there where no man sees, because in punishing sin he considers not the deed but the mind, just as conversely we consider not the mind which we do not see but the deed which we know ... God is said to be the prover and the judge of the heart... that is, of all the intentions which come from an affection of the soul or from a weakness or a pleasure of the flesh.1
Peter Abelard is unique among twelfth-century theologians because he carries a certain amount of name recognition. As the subject of multiple public television specials, several novels, and at least one racy movie, Abelard is perhaps best known for seducing then eloping with Heloise, the young student entrusted to his teachings by her uncle.2 Abelard's subsequent mutilation and the entrance of both lovers into the monastic life are described in great detail in his autobiography, Abelard to a Friend: The Story of His Misfortunes. Heloise's own passionate yearnings as she adapted herself to the religious life are vividly expressed in her correspondence with Abelard.3
Medievalists, of course, also embrace the story of Abelard's liaison with Heloise, and the texts that comprise their tale have been subject to lengthy and valuable scrutiny.4 Abelard's personal writings illuminate our understanding of his other theological and philosophical works, and all of his writings taken together have provided substantial supporting evidence for twentieth-century interpretations of high medieval culture and spirituality. He has, for example, supplied a rich arsenal to the so-called "revolt of the medievalists" in which scholars have claimed for the twelfth century a renaissance to rival that of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italy.5 While Charles Homer Haskins's now classic work, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, emphasized the secular aspects of this cultural flowering, more recent scholarship has broadened the discussion to include areas of religious thought as well. An important theme of both secular and religious interpretations is the "discovery of the individual."6
The "discovery of the individual," like the renaissance of the twelfth century, has itself given rise to a nuanced discussion. Within the realm of religious thought the focus has been on the appearance of a new level of self-awareness or concern with the inner life as compared to earlier medieval...