this leads him to focus on differences he finds. Thus he approaches the problem afresh, in a humble style and in a beautifully produced volume which places as much as possible of the evidence before the reader. On so doing, he arrives at new and sometimes provocative, although very sensible, conclusions about the early Cistercians. (…) He demonstrates that early Cistercian thinking and practice can be separated into two separate threads, each spun out independently until entangled in mid-century. One strand, inspired by the Benedictine tradition, he calls the ‘official’ version of events, while the other he calls ‘officious’. (…) The more officious version (…) invoked a higher motive (…) in the pursuit of both personal and corporate poverty. (…) Auberger arrives at his conclusions by being very methodical in dating and attributing the various layers of evidence within the order’s documents. (…). There is much more in this volume which could be mentioned, for instance the careful comparison of early manuscripts coming from Clairveaux and Cîteaux and the elaboration of Bernard’s theology and its development by his followers. (…) Here at last is a new synthesis on the order’s early history to replace that shattered by Lefèvre. It is the product of hard labor, clear thinking, and considerable courage in challenging traditional approaches, and it will inspire a whole new generation of Cistercian scholarship. Thus, however preliminary or derivative, Auberger’s work makes a contribution to Cistercian scholarship which will not easily be ignored. (…) This is a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship.’ (C.H. BERMAN in Speculum, 1988, pp.357-359).