John R. Sommerfeldt (February 4, 1933 – December 4, 2023) was an American university professor, medievalist and scholar of Cistercian Studies.
As a young man, John Robert Sommerfeldt wanted to become a monk at the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, but left because of poor health.
A version of it was published as „The Epistemological value of Mysticism in the Thought of Bernard of Clairvaux" in: Studies in Medieval Culture (Kalamazoo 1964).
Sommerfeldt served as University President from 1978 to 1980, was Dean of Constantin College of Liberal Arts and taught Medieval Studies until retirement.
[1] Sommerfeldt has been called a "noted and prolific medievalist"[2] and was considered to be an expert[3] on the Cistercian monks Bernard of Clairvaux and Aelred of Rievaulx.