St. Bonaventure's: Interpretation of the Evangelical Life in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John

319 Franciscan Studies 64 (2006) ST. BONAVENTURE’S Interpretation of the Evangelical Life in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John1 Introduction Two introductory remarks seem appropriate. The first batch of remarks focuses on aspects of Bonaventure’s commentary project. With one exception Bonaventure’s exegesis of the Fourth Gospel is unavailable in a modern language.2 It is considerably shorter than his Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke3 and seems to be a composite production from materials from both his days as biblical bachelor and as master and datable to 1257.4 There are sixty-seven extant manuscripts, a fact that indicates that it was very useful and worth the time, effort, and money to copy it.5 Its popularity invites us to ask about the nature of this commentary. Many contemporary commentaries, especially those that are as dry as wheat germ, do not provide helpful parallels to the nature 1 See “Commentarius in Evangelium S. Ioannis,” in S. Bonaventurae Commentarii in Sacram Scripturam, Volume VI (Quaracchi: Coll. S. Bonaventurae, 1893), 237-530. 2 San Bonaventura, Commento al Vangelo di San Giovanni/1 (1-10), translation by Eliodoro Mariani, introduction and notes by Jacques Guy Bougerol (Rome: Città Nuova, 1990); San Bonaventura, Commento al Vangelo di San Giovanni/2 (11-21), translation by Eliodoro Mariani and notes and indices by Jacques Guy Bougerol (Rome: Città Nuova, 1991). 3 St. Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Gospel of Luke Chapters 1-8, 9-16, 17-24, introduction, translation and notes by Robert J. Karris, Works of St. Bonaventure VIII/IIII (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2001, 2003, 2004). In its critical edition this commentary has 600 pages. 4 The very brief comments on the literal sense of a passage stem from Bonaventure’s days as biblical bachelor while the twenty-six non-literal interpretations and 414 quaestiones come from his time as master. 5 See Dominic V. Monti, “Bonaventure’s Interpretation of Scripture in his Exegetical Works,” Ph.D. thesis, (The Divinity School, University of Chicago, 1979), 105 n. 1: “Stegmüller, n. 1778 (2: 211-12), counts some sixty-seven extant manuscripts. This is one of the most widely diffused of any Scholastic commentaries. The Commentary on John of Aquinas, for example, survives in only twenty-three.” 320 ROBERT J. KARRIS of Bonaventure’s commentary.6 For Bonaventure was not afraid to let his faith show. He was teaching and preaching through his commentary on the Inspired Word.7 Second, “evangelical life” is usually taken to mean “evangelical perfection” and to refer to the three vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty. We will see shortly that Bonaventure is quite familiar with this terminology. For the purposes of this article, however, I would like to explore another meaning of “evangelical life,” namely, “life engendered by the Gospel of John.” Such an understanding will allow us to appreciate more fully what Bonaventure says in his teaching and preaching on John’s Gospel. I divide the rest of my statements into two parts: traditional and innovative. Finally, since St. Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Gospel of St. John is unknown to the vast majority of the members of the English speaking Franciscan Family, I will quote extensively from my forthcoming annotated translation.8 Traditional categories In the course of his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John Bonaventure does refer to perfection, virginity, obedience, and poverty, but with the exception of poverty these references are minor and undeveloped. Perfection In my view Bonaventure refers to perfection in two key passages: John 12:8 and John 13:33. While these passages are significant, Bonaventure leaves them undeveloped. In his exposition of John 12:8 (n. 9) Bonaventure gives a non-literal interpretation: “According to the spiritual sense two matters should be noticed here, namely about the banquet and the ointment. – It should be noted that we read that on three different occasions a banquet was given for the Lord. First, by 6 To this day readers will benefit from the rich insights of commentators that plumbed the depths of John’s Gospel. One such is Rudolf Bultmann, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Oxford: Blackwell, 1971). 7 I interpret his twenty...