Writings on the Spiritual Life

Prologue: Commentary on Book II of The Sentences / Commentarius in II Librum Sententiarum

Prologue Commentary on Book II of The Sentences Commentarius in II Librum Sententiarum Commentary on Book II of the Sentences1 Prologue Only this have I found out: God made humankind2 straight, and human beings have entangled themselves in endless questioning.3 Introduction 1. To anyone who carefully considers this passage from Ecclesiastes, it will become apparent that the whole import and ambit of the present book is directed toward what the Wise Man proposes in the aforesaid passage. Since he had tried all manner of things to reach wisdom and had more often failed than succeeded, he finally admitted that he had found out that God had made humankind straight and so forth. This text contains two elements, namely that humankind’s right formation and uprightness is from God,4 and this is alluded to when it is said that God made humankind straight. The other element is the fact that humankind’s miserable deviation comes from itself, 1 The Latin text is Bonaventure’s Prooemium, Commentarius in II librum Sententiarum, Opera Omnia II, 3-6. 2 The Latin word homo is a common noun referring to any human person. The word is frequently used in this tightly argued text and is translated humankind or some variant. 3 See Ecclesiastes 7:30. The Vulgate reads miscuerit (“mixed up”) while Bonaventure has immiscuit (“entangled”). 4 The Latin recta formatio et rectitudo indicates not only a play on words but also articulates an important word image which seeks to convey a depth of meaning. See below n. 4 and n. 5; On the Reduction of the Arts, nn. 23-25 (Hayes, 59-61) Writings on the Spiritual Life 348 and this is alluded to when it is said that humankind is entangled in endless questioning.5 In these two elements are included the goal of all human comprehension, namely that humankind should know the origin of good so that humanity might seek this origin until it is reached and find rest therein; at the same time, humankind ought to know the origin and source of evil in order to avoid it. In these two elements are likewise contained the purpose of the present book which deals with two things, namely the creation of humankind and how it has gone astray. 2. Humankind was Created Upright Humanity’s creation is touched upon when it is said that God made humankind straight. This is explained in Ecclesiasticus 17: The Lord from the earth created humankind – which refers to the body – and made them in the image of God – and this refers to the nature of the soul; and turned humankind into it again, which refers to the gratuitous gift that turns the soul toward God by virtuous habits.6 This text shows that not only did God make rectitude possible for humankind by endowing it with God’s own image, but God also actually made humankind upright by turning (conversus)7 humanity toward God. 5 The Latin is et ipse se infinitis immiscuit questionibus and is rendered “endless questioning” to emphasize humankind’s failure to understand – to use “rightly” – the capacity to know and to love God their Creator, Source, and End. 6 See Ecclesiasticus 17:1-2. 7 The Latin conversus is rendered “turning toward” (conversion) to image and emphasizes humanity’s fundamental relationship with God as well as to indicate the basic nature of sin itself (“a turning away from God” and “a turning toward” lesser goods as indicated in nn. 11-17). Writings on the Spiritual Life 349 Thus it is that humankind is upright when intelligence is consonant with the highest truth in knowing, when the will is in conformity with the highest goodness in loving, and the powers conjoined with the supreme power in acting. This happens when a human person turns totally toward God. 3. The Rectification of the Human Intellect Consequently, humankind is first of all upright when intelligence is consonant with the highest truth. By “consonant” I do not mean that the mind is thereby completely filled [or all-knowing], but only by way of a certain imitation. If as Anselm says: “Truth is rectitude perceptible only by the mind,”8 and only what is upright is consonant with rectitude, then when our intellect is consonant with truth, it is necessarily rectified. It is rendered consonant with the truth only when it...