Giovanni di Fidanza, known as Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. Franciscan theologian and philosopher; cardinal and Minister-General of the Franciscan Order. Contemporary and cordial adversary of Thomas Aquinas. Called the Doctor Seraphicus.
Key Concepts
- Itinerary of the Mind to God (Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, 1259): the soul ascends to God in six steps — from the external world (vestiges of God in creation) to the interior (soul as image of God) to the superior (contemplation of God in itself); divine illumination is necessary at each stage
- Divine illumination: human knowledge requires a special light infused by God — inheritance from Augustine against the pure Aristotelianism of Thomas Aquinas
- Exemplarism: creatures are vestiges (vestigia), images (imagines) or similitudes (similitudines) of God — the world is a book that speaks of God
- Theology as affective wisdom: theology is not theoretical science but sapientia — knowledge that moves toward love; contemplation surpasses speculation
- Creation in time: against Aristotle and Averroes, the world is not eternal — it was created from nothing (ex nihilo)
Influenced by
- Augustine — illuminism, interiority and love
- Plato (via Augustine) — exemplarism and participation
- Anselm of Canterbury — ontological argument and faith seeking understanding
- Francis of Assisi — Franciscan spirituality
Influenced
- Later Franciscan school (Duns Scotus, Ockham — though divergent)
- Western Christian mysticism
- Thomas Aquinas — debate on the eternity of the world
Works
Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard (1248–1255); Itinerary of the Mind to God (1259); Reduction of the Arts to Theology (1255); The Triple Way (c. 1259).
See also
Medieval Philosophy