Jean Leclercq OSB (31 January 1911 – 27 October 1993), was a French Benedictine monk, the author of classic studies on Lectio Divina and the history of inter-monastic dialogue, as well as the life and theology of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

LeClercq is perhaps best known in the English speaking world for his seminal work The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture.

While Leclercq certainly became the medieval expert on the life of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, it would be another work that would cement his fame in the circle of Benedictine monasticism.

In the year 1956 Leclercq would begin a series of lectures both in Milan and at the Benedictine University in Rome which would form the foundation of his later published work known in English as The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture.

Monastic Theology, in addition to the above items noted, would focus on such things as mystery, symbols, subjectivity and experience, Affectus Fidei, and the dialectic.

For Monastic Theology is the lived reality of the faith interwoven in a significant spiritual experience of love and intelligence in order to know the mystery of God in a manner distinct from that which is purely intellectual and rational.

Bernard's works was distinctively Sapienza where theology is the contemplation of God and involves love, affection, and speaking of faith only grounded in this.

In their examination of monasticism in the developing countries, they became concerned that more assistance (financial, spiritual, and advisory) was needed for fledgling monastic institutions.

They decided to form an organization to help coordinate assistance efforts for these Benedictine, Cistercian and Trappist men and women throughout the world.

This would be followed by trips to the following countries: Togo, Cameroon, Senegal, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo-Kinshasa, Burundi, Madagascar, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Martinique, Korea, New Zealand, Australia, England, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United States of America.

His articles and books number 1053 items and he was described as "the most influential of all contemporary historians of the Middle Ages" and "the most prolific medievalist of the past fifty years.

The stated purpose was to research and promote the "Leclercqian perspective for interdisciplinary dialogue between history, spirituality, philosophy, theology and liturgy.