Anyone read any Bonaventure?

[Godlovesmetwo]

This guy is new to me but the more I read the more I like. Linked with St Francis, it seems he's the academic who gave St. Francis more credibility in the Church. Not that Francis needed it on a "real" Christian level, just cred. with authorities and the theology department.
Journey to God I think is his main book.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

 

[Davidnic]

Just finished re-reading Mind's Road To God.

 

[Rhamiel]

I have read a little of him

Thank you for reminding me of him

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Stop me if I get carried away here. But this guy is just mind-blowing. Bonaventure I mean.
No wonder Merton saw some link with Buddhism. Because its about more than intellectual truth. As finite beings we will never be able to understand the Infinite. We should "desire" God rather than "desire to understand" God.
"Experiential ecstasy" was what St. Francis often felt and displayed to others. The saints were all about the mystical, not the intellectual. they realised that you gotta let that precious analytical brain take a rest, if you want to communicate, share Holy time with the Lord.

 

[Fantine]

I remember Richard Rohr writing about Bonaventure and it sounded as if he was light years ahead of his time (do you ever wonder what would have happened without the Reformation? It always seems as if there are these amazing theologians and mystics who wrote before the Reformation--Hildegarde of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Bonaventure--and then after the Council of Trent we went through a 5 century "big chill.")

Here's what Rohr says:

Saint Bonaventure took the spiritual intuition of Francis and made it into a theology. He taught that there are three books from which we learn wisdom: 1) The Book of Creation, 2) The Book of Jesus and Scripture, and 3) The Book of Experience. He also taught that there are three pairs of eyes. The first pair of eyes sees all things as a fingerprint or footprint of God (vestigia), which evokes foundational respect and teachability. The second pair of eyes are the hard work of honest self-knowledge–awareness of how you are processing your reality moment by moment. This is necessary to keep your own lens clean and open, and is the work of your entire lifetime. The third pair are the eyes of contemplation, which allow you to see things in their essence and in their core meaning. Only then can you receive the transmitted image of God on your soul. “Deep calls unto deep” as the Psalmist says (42:8), and all outer images can then mirror and evoke your own inner divine image. This is really quite brilliant and simple.

Richard Rohr – Identity in Christ « St. John the Divine Anglican Church

Here's some public domain St. Bonaventure, only 27 pages, but it doesn't look like an easy read.

http://freecatholicebooks.com/books/minds_road_to_god.pdf

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

Thanks fantine
That's a great summary by Rohr of what I've just read this weekend on Bonaventure. I'd better not write off Rohr then. He's (Rohr) problematic for some of the purists but he speaks the language I understand. And I find it far more motivational to read about the mystics than the rule makers.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

It always seems as if there are these amazing theologians and mystics who wrote before the Reformation--Hildegarde of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Bonaventure--and then after the Council of Trent we went through a 5 century "big chill.")

There is something about Franciscan spirituality that really appeals to me. Its just more compelling, less rigid. We are supposed to keep an open mind about what we encounter everyday in life. Otherwise we can miss out on encountering the sacred.