Examination of Conscience According to Saint Bonaventure By Philotheus Boehner, O. F. M. (review)

Book Reviews225 concerning the essential freedom of the wUl and its primacy. We likewise find it in the notion of love which Duns Scotus deUvers from necessitarianism, making it an act of the most formal justice, the promotive disinterested benevolence towards another, "propter se ipsum." Notwithstanding these reservations, credit goes to M. GUson for having placed Duns Scotus in the Ume Ught, and allowed us to watch him in the elaboration of his masterful work, almost as one watches an intimate friend. Béraud De Saint Maurice Trois-Rivières, Qué. Canada. Boehner, Philotheus, 0. F. M., Examination of Conscience According to Saint Bonaventure, Saint Bonaventure, New-York : The Franciscan Institute, 1953. Pp. vüi + 109. $ 1.00. This little volume is an excellent example of how the ascetical theology of the great scholastics can be presented in non-technical form to meet the needs of the average modern reUgious. Many of Saint Bonaventure's shorter works were directed toward the average reUgious of his own day, and his guidance in Franciscan perfection is as vaUd and practical now as it was then. The only problem Ues in translating him from his own milieu to ours. This is precisely what Father Boehner has done. Combining his intimate knowledge of the Seraphic Doctor's teachings with his own wide experience as a spiritual director, Father Boehner has succeeded admirably in adapting traditional Franciscan doctrine to modern needs. In two ofhis asceticalworks, Detriplici via andDe perfections vitae adSórores, Saint Bonaventure outlined a plan for the examination of conscience. He divided it, characteristically, into three parts, concerning sins of negligence, sins of concupiscence, and sins of maüce; and since he intended it for reUgious, the twenty or more points he included are primarily concerned with the venial sins and imperfections most commonly found among reUgious. It is this general plan that Father Boehner has elaborated in detail and adapted to present-day needs. Although each of the twenty examens is developed according to the doctrine of Saint Bonaventure, none of them either translates or paraphrases actual texts found in his works. Rather each point is expanded by applying the ascetical teachings found scattered throughout all the works of the Seraphic Doctor to modern problems and situations. Anyone familiar with the works of Saint Bonaventure wül easily recognize his thought behind Father Boehner's phrasing. Franciscan reUgious wUl no doubt be grateful to Father Boehner for his Examination of Conscience. It not only provides help to greater self-knowledge and consequently to greater perfection, but it may also suggest to other writers (let us hope) how much value Bonaventure's ascetical theology stiU possesses even for the untrained reader when cast in digestible form. Sr. M. Frances, S. M. I. C. St. Bonaventure, N. Y. 15 Franciscan Studies ...