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Bo o k Re view s 275 Lyra as a biblical commentator, these essays provide us with rich fare that has implications for theology, exegesis, political theory, ecclesiology , philology, as well as for the troubled relationship between Christians andJews. The Franciscan Institute MICHAEL W. BLASTIC, O.F.M.CONV. Timothy J. Johnson. The Soul in Ascent: Bonaventure on Poverty, Prayer, and Union with God. Studies in Franciscanism. Quincy, IL: Franciscan Press, 2000. 226 pp. The existential angst of our postmodern culture has exposed the essential truth of humanity, namely, that we are made for God and long to be united to the ground of our being. It is no wonder, therefore, that spiritual currents abound and that methods of prayer are sought after to fill the gaps of emptiness that mark our fragmented world. Today spirituality is the key word and prayer is the link between emptiness and God. The contemporary pursuit of spirituality has sparked a resurgence of interest in the Christian tradition. Scholars tapping into the wisdom of patristic and medieval thinkers have exposed a rich depth of spiritual nourishment to feed the spiritual hungers of our time. Timothy Johnson’s book, The Soul in Ascent, is a valuable contribution in this retrieval. Johnson’s book, a revised version of his doctoral dissertation at the Gregorian University, explores the doctrine of prayer in the writings of the eminent Franciscan theologian, St. Bonaventure. Bonaventure’s theology of prayer is particularly relevant to our contemporary age because he reflects on the mystery of God from the standpoint of the human person as pilgrim longing to return home (p. 2). Prayer is both the beginning of the journey to God and the culmination of the journey in God. While Bonaventure is known as a mystical writer who places an emphasis on contemplation, Johnson explores his writings through the lens of petitionary prayer. This aspect of prayer, as Johnson points out in his introduction, is the most common expression of medieval prayer and most important because it corresponds to the ancient understanding of prayer (p. 4). At the same time, however, it is an aspect of prayer that has been essentially ignored in Bonaventure’s doctrine. As 276 Bo o k Re view s Johnson states, without petitionary prayer Bonaventure’s teaching on prayer with respect to contemplation is impoverished. Petition and contemplation together form the pillars of his teaching on prayer and are inextricably bound to one another (p. 5). The purpose ofJohnson’s study, therefore, is to approach the theme of prayer in Bonaventure’s writings from the perspective of petitionary prayer (p. 6). In his classical Soul's Journey Into God, Bonaventure begins the journey with the cry of the poor one in the desert, that is, the cry of the pilgrim who far from God begs for divine mercy that overcomes alienation of sin and fosters the ascent into God. The movement of prayer from the cry for divine mercy to the fulfillment and transformation found in union with God forms the four chapters of Johnson’s book. The first chapter examines prayer in the light of Bonaventure’s teaching on poverty, mercy and the advent of Christ. Here Johnson examines the existential nature of human poverty, the relationship between human misery and divine mercy, the call to conversion and the gift of Christ as the divine response to the cry for mercy (p. 47). The second chapter examines prayer as an act which, through the power of the Holy Spirit, conforms the poor to Christ and renders them adopted sons and daughters of God. Bonaventure’s doctrine of exemplarism as the basis of imitating Christ is discussed here in relation to the notion of spiritual adoption. The prayer of the poor especially in the words of the “Our Father” is grounded in the belief that God is the source of all goodness and shares that goodness with those who call out in prayer. Johnson examines the sharing of divine goodness particularly as it is expressed in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the third chapter the scriptural admonition to pray without ceasing is examined through Bonaventure’s doctrine on vocal prayer, the desire for the good...

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