BONAVENTURE PONDERING WITH AUGUSTINE:DE CIVITATE DEI11.2 AND THE MAKING OF THEITINERARIUM MENTIS IN DEUM

Abstract

This article presents Augustine'sDe civitate Dei11.2 as a valuable but overlooked source of influence on Bonaventure's making of theItinerarium mentis in Deum. First, a detailed exposition analyzes the structure and content of Augustine's compact mystical treatise on the “ascent of the mind to God” located at the turning points of hismagnum opus. Second, a study of the prologue of theItinerarium mentis in Deumdemonstrates how this passage informed Bonaventure's conception of his unique project. Third, the article offers support for his explicit reception ofDe civitate Dei— and Book 11 in particular — through an annotated summary of Bonaventure's references to the work in his earlier and later written corpus. Initial findings present howAnonymi Contra philosophosappears to have functioned as a privileged point for reception ofDe civitate Dei11.2 among the early Franciscans scholastics from Alexander of Hales to Bonaventure and Matthew of Aquasparta. The present research also offers a fresh case study through which to modify the central claims of Lydia Schumacher's scholarship on the Bonaventurean use of Augustine and the nature of early Franciscan theology. The closing section explores some of the possible influences shaping this approach. Finally, this article invites medievalists to expand their expectations of howDe civitate Dei 11may have communicated Augustine's thought through diverse forms of Franciscan reception and wide-ranging applications beyond the academy.