The Historical Constitution of St. Bonaventure’s Philosophy by John F. Quinn (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 148 the epistemology on the basis of which.western society has been constructed ~the epistemology based on the "ideal of objectivity." The ethical and social consequences of this epistemology are perhaps best expressed in the statement of Aristotle that "Truth is incompatible with the condition of the slave" (p. 262), i.e. with the condition of that 5/6 of Greek society which had been reduced to objects (commodities). Unfortunately, it never occurred to Aristotle to see that as a judgment of society, but only as a judgment on the slave. Since the essence of the biblical God, however, is to hear the cries of the slaves, to establish community with them, and to fight with them against their oppreosors, it is precisely with their condition that biblical truth about the biblical God and the biblical world is most compatible. Marx shared in this biblical rage against the Powers of this age who rule the earth as though it belonged to them. According to Miranda , however, in rejecting the resurrection Marx is insufficiently dialectical . He thus refuses to entertain the ultimate hope in the capacity of matter, under the guidance of God, to transcend death. For Miranda," the negation of the resurrection of the dead is an ideology defensive of the status quo ... it is to kill the nerve of the real hope of changing the world " (p. 284). Miranda ends this fascinating study with the intriguing declaration that the authentically dialectical Marxist and the biblical Christian will be the last to renounce this hope. GERALD FOLK Augustana College Sioux Falls, South Dakota The Historical Constitution of St. Bonaventure's Philosophy. By JoHN F. .QUINN. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1973. Pp. 981. In this long and detailed study, Quinn attempts to realize three objectives : 1) to establish the historical constitution of Bonaventure's philosophy , while respecting its theological context; 2) to compare that thought with the philosophical doctrine of St. Thomas; 3) to contribute insofar as possible to resolving the issues dividing recent and contemporary historians with respect to the first item. In order to set the stage for realizing these objectives, Quinn devotes pp. 17-100 to a careful review of recent and contemporary scholarship on the historical constitution of Bonaventure's philosophy . Here the views of scholars such as De Wulf, Mandonnet, Gilson, Van Steenberghen, Robert, Ratzinger, and van der Laan are considered in chronological sequence. Fundamental points of disagreement still obtain between some of these interpretations, especially between those of Gilson and Van Steenberghen. For instance, is Bonaventure's philosophy (as dis- 144 BOOK REVIEWS tinguished from his theology) to be described more properly as Augustinian or as Aristotelian? To what extent may his philosophy be described as anti-Aristotelian, if at all? Is. one justified in attempting to extract Bonaventure's philosophy from the theological context in which it is presented ? To what extent may his philosophy be described as "Christian," if at all? Quinn will return to these issues in the final part of the book, but before doing so engages in a long study of Bonaventure's philosophy. Quinn's presentation of Bonaventure's philosophy has as its central theme the latter's teaching on natural knowledge. Under this theme he singles out four basic doctrines to which the four .parts of his volume correspond. Thus Part I ("Foundations of Natural Knowledge") is itself divided into three chapters: c. I, "Composition of Body and Soul in Man;" c. 2, "Essence and Nature of the Human Soul;" c. S, "Problem of Plural Forms." Part II (" Powers and Operations of Human Knowledge ") includes c. 4, " Potencies of Human Knowledge; " and c. 5, " Acts and Modes of Human Knowledge." Part III (" Certitude and Illumination of Knowledge ") encompasses c. 6, "Certitude of Natural Knowledge," and c. 7, "Ilumination of Natural Knowledge." Part IV ("Formation and Development of Theological Knowledge ") consists of. c. 8, " Order of Reason to Faith in Theology ;" and c. 9, "Problem of Christian Philosophy." In the "General Conclusion " Quinn returns to issues raised in his Introduction such as those mentioned above. His work concludes with an extensive Bibliography (522 entries) and Indices (Analytical, Authors, Historians). While limitations of space preclude any...