In Search of the Good Life: A Pedagogy for Troubled Times

1. A Pedagogy of the Heart: Saint Bonaventure’s Spiritual Itinerary

23 1. a Pedagogy of the Heart Saint Bonaventure’s Spiritual Itinerary Some eight hundred years ago, a young man in Italy received a summons to rejuvenate religious practices through a life of poverty and humble devotion. The young man’s name was Giovanni francesco Bernardone, and he lived in the town of assisi in Umbria. following this summons, he divested himself of all worldly possessions and founded a religious order that spread rapidly throughout europe.1 Two years after his death (in 1226), he was canonized and became revered as Saint francis. However, in his own lifetime, he was known simply as the poverello, a poor, humble mendicant following in the footsteps of his Lord. eight centuries have passed since the poverello ’s time, and his legacy is nearly extinguished. Societies and peoples everywhere have grown by leaps and bounds. during the past four centuries in particular, Western modernity has relentlessly embarked on a quest for “progress,” which basically means growth in all domains : scientific knowledge, economic wealth, and military-industrial power. although beneficial in some respects, “progress” has also exacted a heavy toll—in particular, human addiction and subservience to growth. Poverty and the simple life—I mean the voluntary poverty of francis, not the involuntary type still suffered by millions—have become nearly unintelligible to people swept up by the tide of consumerism and possessivism.2 although he authored a series of beautifully stirring canticles and sermons, Saint francis did not elaborate in writing many of his basic theological, philosophical, and pedagogical views, leaving that task to some of his devoted followers. among the latter, the most prominent was Saint Bonaventure (1217–1274), who is also known as the “second founder” of the franciscan order (he served as its minister General 24 Prominent Searchers in the Past for seventeen years) and as the “Seraphic doctor” (in remembrance of the winged seraphim that appeared to Saint francis on mount La Verna in 1224).3 Compared with the poverello, the younger disciple was more scholarly and erudite in an academic sense. educated at the University of Paris by some of the best teachers of the time, Bonaventure lectured at that university and finally received his magister of theology there, in the same year as Thomas aquinas. yet, despite his more academic leanings, he never moved far away from his spiritual mentor: no matter how philosophically and theologically refined, all his writings exude the gentle spirit and humble devotion of the saintly poverello.4 In this chapter I discuss some of Bonaventure’s writings in an effort to highlight his admirable blending of learning and devotion (or what erasmus called the twinning of eruditio et pietas). I concentrate chiefly on two texts: “The Life of Saint francis” (Legenda Maior) and “The Soul’s [or Heart’s] Journey into God” (Itinerarium Mentis in Deum). following a discussion of these texts, I draw some parallels between Bonaventure’s itinerary and the pedagogical teachings of other religious traditions, and finally, I reflect on the contemporary relevance of his work, drawing attention especially to Paulo freire’s Pedagogy of the Heart. Life of Saint Francis francis of assisi died when Bonaventure was still a young boy, making it highly unlikely that the two saints ever met.5 Notwithstanding this distance, the younger man remained fervently devoted to the legacy of his spiritual guide, a fact evident in all his writings, but especially in his detailed and lovingly narrated story of francis’s life. The story was commissioned by the General Chapter of the franciscan order and, in due course, emerged as the official biography of Saint francis, sidelining some earlier accounts. In preparing his biography, Bonaventure conducted extensive research using available sources and also met and interrogated some of francis’s early companions who were still alive at the time. In his own words, his chief aim was to “gather together the accounts of [the saint’s] virtues, his actions and his words—like so many fragments, partly forgotten and scattered—so that they may not be lost when those who lived with him pass away.”6 as this statement indicates, his aim was not simply to offer a factual account or a Saint Bonaventure’s Spiritual Itinerary 25 story of external events, but rather to illuminate through these events the saint’s spiritual motives and “virtues.” ewert Cousins, in his introduction to the biography, finds in the text two main layers...