St. Bonaventure and the Augustinian Concept of Mens

Abstract

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 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 T.-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.