vassal. The material and immaterial benefits of this bond consolidate
their alliance and enable human attachment to it. God commends the
heritage, riches, and other gifts of grace to human stewardship.
His feudal terminology allows Bernard to conceive the ideas of
recognition as more strongly mutual than the preceding Christian
tradition. Like the bridegroom and the bride, the lord and the servant
commit themselves to one another. Since these moves are described in
terms of commendation and recognition, the‘downward’acts of the
lord can also be expressed in a differentiated manner. The acts of
agnoscoandrecognoscocontinue to be reserved to the servant, thus
assuming the old conception of‘upward recognition’. As the lord gives
various benefits in his primary act of commendation, the servant’sact
of upward recognition or acknowledgement can be described as adopt-
ing this benefit. The benefit does not, however, become the property of
the servant but remains that of the lord. In this sense, the language of
benefits contains an element of permanent heteronomy.
This increased mutuality makes the conceptions of identity consti-
tution and self-recognition stronger in Bernard than in Augustine.
The constitution of the bride as bride is due to the heteronomous acts
of commendation and recognition. As the bride is not only the
servant of the bridegroom but, as a church, the mother of the
individual faithful as well, the dialectic of this‘servant’has both
upward and downward aspects. The introspective elements of self-
knowledge and self-ownership may also contain some elements from
Cicero. Although the Augustinian features thus receive new feudal
applications, Bernard’s theological language in many ways remains
within the basic Augustinian scheme.
2.4. Thomas Aquinas and Later Scholastics
Thomas Aquinas takes over the notions of Augustine and Bernard,
enriching and extending them in manifold ways. In addition, Thomas
employs the verbrecognoscopractically as often as the verbagnosco.^84
(^84) 214 agnosc, 194 recognosc from theLLTdatabase. As the search engine
sometimes counts the same occurrences twice, the absolutefigures are not reliable;
however, the proportions between them should be.
The Latin Traditions 69