Aelred of Rievaulx’s Relational Anthropology in Socio-Historical and Religious Context

Abstract

The Cistercian monk, Aelred of Rievaulx, is unique in his emphasis on relationship with others. While Aelred’s socio-historical context—that of a twelfth-century Renaissance, Cistercian community, with its increased emphasis on friendship—contributed to his relational anthropology, I argue that Aelred possessed his own relational vision, and out of passionate love was active in pursuing unity between his secular and religious communities, and also with other persons in his communities. This relational vision and action, which is highly consonant with contemporary anthropology, is embedded in the theological anthropology of his writings, where he confirms that the essence of the human being is relational.