RUPERT OF DEUTZ

Abbot of Deutz, near Cologne, and exegetical theologian; b. probably Liège, c. 1075; d. Deutz, March 4,1129. A series of visions in adolescence convinced him he had been granted true understanding of the Scriptures and he devoted his life to allegorical exegesis, particularly of the Apocalypse. An uncompromising Gregorian, he refused ordination until his simoniacal bishop had been reconciled to Rome (1106), and in 1116 he was forced to flee to Siegburg Abbey because of the hostility his attacks on simony had aroused. In 1117 he challenged an selm of laon's predestinarianism and debated with his pupils at Laon. He was appointed abbot of Deutz in 1119 or 1120. A defender of the Benedictine tradition, he opposed the introduction of logic into theology, rebutted the attacks on his order by the Canons Regular, was the first to interpret the Canticle of Canticles as Christ's love for the Virgin, and developed an Augustinian theology of history as the divinely ordained process of moral reeducation for mankind, divided into three ages under the guidance of the Trinity. Although Rupert was renowned during his lifetime for his literary style and knowledge of Scripture, he was given little attention after his death until the Reformation, when his imprecise language on the Eucharist caused him to be accused, falsely, of having preached impanation (see transubstantiation).

See Also: anselm of laon.

Bibliography: Opera Omnia, Patrologia Latina, ed. j. p. migne, 217 v. (Paris 1878–90) v. 167–170. m. magrassi, Teologia e storia nel pensiero di Ruperto di Deutz (Rome 1959). r. haacke, "Die Überlieferung der Schriften R. von D.," Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 16 (1960) 397–436. h. silvestre, Le "Chronicon Sancti Laurentii Leodiensis" dit de Rupert de Deutz (Louvain 1952). m. bernards, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 9:104–106, excellent bibliog.

[b. s. smith]