Works of St. Bonaventure, Volume 11: Commentary on the Gospel of John. Translated by ROBERT J. KARRIS, OFM.

Abstract

It is a sign of the decay of scholarly familiarity with Latin that a book of this sort should be reviewed in this journal. It is a readable and sensible translation from the Quaracchi edition of 1893, but without the Latin on facing pages, and the footnotes also take the reader to translations where possible. The author of the introduction has the difficult task of giving an account of Bonaventure's approach to exegesis which will also make sense to readers familiar only with its modern counterpart, without falsifying or distorting Bonaventure's own thinking. He errs on the side of being too cosy, referring to ‘the extent to which we twenty-first century folks understand that context’ (p. 6). A more thoroughgoing description of the pedagogy of Bonaventure's day would be useful. The use of quaestiones is ‘compared to the excursus in some contemporary commentaries such as those in the Hermeneia series’ (p. 8). But the quaestio was fundamental to the teaching of medieval universities, not a mere device adopted by lecturers who happened to favour it, and the modern reader needs to understand, much more clearly than this introduction will assist him to do, what Bonaventure was attempting in his own quaestiones. Nor does our author's treatment of ‘non-literal interpretations’ take us to the heart either of the use of the figurative senses, or to the preacher's task, which is mentioned only briefly on p. 15, but which was central to the training of the early friars. There is a teasing reference to Beryl Smalley's challenge that hard work is needed on Bonaventure's lectures, including those on St John. This is not the place to find it. But the reader in need of a speedy way into these commentaries will find this a pleasant read.