William O. Paulsell–D. Bard Thompson teacher–student relationship

The William O. Paulsell–D. Bard Thompson teacher–student relationship was formative because it carried Paulsell from the academic study of religion toward a lifelong interest in spirituality and mysticism. Thompson introduced him not only to a field of study, but also to practices and traditions that made Christian monasticism a living subject rather than a remote historical institution.

Academic Introduction

D. Bard Thompson was a professor of church history at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Paulsell later dedicated his book to Thompson’s memory, crediting him with introducing spirituality as an academic discipline. That acknowledgment identifies the relationship’s central influence: Thompson gave Paulsell an intellectual starting point from which sustained study could develop.

Paulsell initially missed Thompson’s course on the history of Christian spirituality because of the Divinity School’s regular course schedule. Thompson nevertheless agreed to supervise an independent study, assigning readings by figures discussed in Paulsell’s book and by others. Paulsell described that study as the beginning of what became a lifelong interest in spirituality generally and mysticism in particular.

Teaching Beyond the Classroom

Thompson also brought the first-year class to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where students studying medieval monasticism could encounter a functioning monastic community. The visit included the Divine Offices, meals in the guest house, a tour, and a session with a monk about monastic life. For Paulsell and other students, the silence and warmth of the community—and the monks’ commitment to poverty, chastity, obedience, and prayer—opened a dimension of Christian life they had largely neglected.

Paulsell had a car and drove on five of these visits. On two, Thomas Merton spent an afternoon with the students, answering their questions. The trips thus brought classroom study into contact with both monastic practice and a living spiritual writer, although Paulsell said he did not then know Merton’s stature. The visits complemented Thompson’s teaching by letting students see the tradition they were studying embodied in daily communal life.

A Lasting Intellectual and Spiritual Influence

The independent study’s effects extended well beyond a single course. Paulsell’s particular interest gradually turned toward the Cistercian tradition and the writings of Bernard of Clairvaux. He attended annual conferences on Cistercian history, sometimes presented papers, and learned from monks who attended. This later work shows how Thompson’s initial guidance became a continuing scholarly path rather than a brief academic encounter.

The relationship also helped broaden, rather than replace, Paulsell’s concerns. As a ministry student in the 1950s, he and his peers were strongly engaged with social action and the civil rights movement. The Gethsemani visits made contemplative and monastic life newly visible to him alongside those commitments. Paulsell later affirmed that he never lost his concern for social justice, while describing a deeper longing for God that developed over the years. Thompson’s influence therefore appears in the conjunction of sustained intellectual study, encounter with monastic life, and an evolving spiritual outlook.