Bonaventure's Metaphysics of the Good

Abstract

Bonaventure offers new insight on the role of God the Father vis-à-vis the created world and the role of the Incarnate Word as metaphysical center of all reality. The kenosis of the Father through the self-diffusion of the good inverts the notion of patriarchy and underscores the humility of God in the world. By locating universals on the level of the singular and personal, Bonaventure transforms the Neoplatonic philosophical quest into a Christian metaphysics. The author then considers the ramifications of this for the contemporary world.]T HE HIGH MIDDLE AGES were a time of change and transition, marked by the religious discovery of the universe and a new awareness of the position of the human person in the universe. In the 12th century, a Dionysian awakening coupled with the rediscovery of Plato's Timaeus gave rise to a new view of the cosmos. 1 Louis Dupré has described the Platonic revival of that century as the turn to a "new self-consciousness." 2 In view of the new awakening of the 12th century, the question of metaphysical principles that supported created reality, traditionally the quest of the philosophers, began to be challenged by Christian writers. Of course it was not as if any one writer set out to overturn classical metaphysics; however, the significance of the Incarnation posed a major challenge. It may seem odd that a barely educated young man could upset an established philosophical tradition, but Francis of Assisi succeeded in doing so. As Dupré points out, Francis's devotion to Jesus of Nazareth, the individual, opened up a new perspective on the unique particularity of the person. If the Image of all images is an individual, then the primary significance of individual ILIA DELIO, O.S.F., received the Ph.D. from Fordham University. She is assistant professor in the department of ecclesiastical history at the Washington Theological Union. The area of her specialization is Franciscan theology. Besides a recent article on Bonaventure's eschatology in Traditio 52 (1997) 153-77, she has also published Crucified Love: Bonaventure's

Mistyczne odkrywanie Boga w "Itinerarium mentis in Deum" św. Bonawentury

“…Wiedzie ona poprzez ten świat, który dla Doktora Serafickiego jest "zwierciadłem" (speculum) 44 lub "drabiną" (scala) 45 . Byty tego świata stanowią "ślad" (vestigium) 46 lub "obraz" (imago) 47 stwórczego przyczynowania Boga.…”

Amo Ut Sciam: The Function of Love in the Process of Knowledge in the Light of St. Bonaventure’s Philosophy

“…For through sight enter the sublime and luminous heavenly bodies and other colored objects; through touch, solid and terrestrial bodies; through three intermediate senses, intermediate objects; through taste, liquid, through hearing, sounds; and through smell, vapors which have something of humid nature, something of air, and something fiery or hot, as is deceived in the smoke from incense. 32 Now, in every apprehension of man, objects that are being apprehended are those objects which are outside or the exterior senses. These exterior objects are not apprehended through their substance but through their likeness which primarily pertains to the external characteristics of things.…”

“…"Homo igitur, qui dicitur minor mundus, habet quinque sensus quasi quinque portas, per quas intrat cognitio omnium, quae sunt in mundo sensibili, in animam ipius." 32 Ibid. "Nam per visum intrant corpora sublimia et luminosa et cetera colorata, per tactum vero corpora solida et terrestria, per tres vero sensus intermedios intrant intermedia, ut per gustum aquea, per auditum aërea, per odoratum vaporabilia, quae aliquid habent de natura humida, aliquid de aërea, aliquid de ignea seu calida, sicut patet in fumo ex aromatibus resoluto."…”