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ST. BONAVENTURE AND THE AUGUSTINIAN CONCEPT OF MENS St. Bonaventure was the greatest augustinian of the medieval period. His theology carried forward, with a high degree of integrity, the devotional approach to truth which characterized the thought of St. Augustine . Nevertheless, because of the age in which he lived, St. Bonaventure has been interpreted frequently as representative of the aristotelian rather than the augustinian tradition. It would be more correct to say that St. Bonaventure is an augustinian who makes significant use of the thought of Aristotle.1 It is the purpose of this paper to show the predominance of the augustinian tradition in the work of St. Bonaventure by examining the concept of mens, which is basic to the work of both men. In order to show the relationship, the paper will examine the concept as it is found in the Itinerarium Mentis ad Deum2 of St. Bonaventure , and in three works of St. Augustine : De Libero Arbitrio,3 De Vera Religione* and De Trinitate.6 1 Fernand Van Steenberghen has explored this question in depth in his work, Aristotle in the West: The Origins of Latin Aristotelianism. Translated by Leonard Johnston. Louvain: E. Nauwelaerts, 1955. On pages 161—162, Van Steenberghen states, "It is as a theologian, and only as such, by the spirit of his theology and by its principal doctrines, that St. Bonaventure belongs to the Augustinian school, or to Augustinian trend in theology . In philosophy, St. Augustine is one of the sources of his thought, but is secondary with respect to Aristotelianism. In short, St. Bonaventure's philosophy is an eclectic Aristotelianism with neo-Platonic tendencies, put at the service of an Augustinian theology." 2 Translated with an Introduction by George Boas and published with the English title, The Mind's Road to God, New York, 1953. Hereafter referred to as Itinerarium. Quotations are from the English translation, but each has been compared with the Latin text as published in S. Bonaventure, Opera Omnia, volume xii, Ludovicus Vives, Bibliopola Editor, Parisiis, 1868. 3 Augustine: Earlier Writings, Selected and translated with Introductions by John H. S. Burleigh. The Library of Christian Classics, volume vi. Philadelphia, 1953. Hereafter referred to as DLA. Quotations are from the English translation, but each has been compared with the Latin texts as published in Opera Omnia Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Latina Prior, Tomus xxxii. Accurante J.-P. Migne, Parisiis, 1877. 4 Ibid., hereafter referred to as DVR. Quotations are from the English translation, but each has been compared with the Latin text as published in Opera Omnia Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Latina Prior, Tomus xxxiv. Accurante J.-P. Migne, Parisiis, 1877. 5 Marcus Dods, Editor, The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, volume vii, translated by Arthur West Haddan, Edinburgh, 1873. 164CHARLES N. FOSHEE One of the factors responsible in part for the improper interpretation of St. Bonaventure's work is his failure to define his terms. He assumes an understanding of his terminology on the part of his readers, but it is precisely the failure to understand that has led to modern difficulties. The foundations of his terminology must be derived clearly, therefore, and the examination must begin with the work of St. Augustine in order to lay the proper foundation. Basic to the thought of St. Augustine, and fundamental to his concept of knowledge, is the conviction that without faith there can be no understanding.8 Faith is the cornerstone for knowledge. The will is primary in all knowledge, for what is known cannot be divorced from what is loved. The will of man apart from Christ is directed to goods which are, for the man involved, ultimate goods but which are not the Ultimate Good. When a man is in Christ, the Word made flesh so moves the will that the individual is enabled to love The Good of which he has been aware without personal acknowledgement. For St. Augustine, all knowledge is possible because of Divine Illumination . Through the eternal Logos, all things are made conformable to God and to the human mind. Because of this conformity, the human mind is capable of knowledge of the things of the external world. It is only by faith...

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