In contemplating depictions of the crucifixion, observers have generally overlooked an important provocative element: Jesus is put to death as a latro, an outlaw, between two other latrones. For this reason, references to latrones in the Bible, in Eremite and monastic texts, as well as in later Christian writings are more than a mere literary device. They offer a previously unexplored and underappreciated window into a theology of freedom.

In his works, Bernard of Clairvaux, designed an impressive curriculum for a monastic "school of spiritual love ". Because of Bernard's remarkable level of slyle and doctrine, this curriculum was limited for centuries to a monastic elite audience. According to the article, however at the end of the ]4th century the anonymous English author of The Cloud of Unknowing (probably a Carthusian) rewrote this program with mystico-pedagogical talent and created a "democratized version" of this course - with the central metaphor (...) of a "tree of love" - thus meeting the spiritual interests and needs lay-people had in that particular period. (shrink)