CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
THE RELATION OF PHILOSOPHY TO THEOLOGY
Ever since the beginning of the Thirteenth Century there had been a growing tendency among Christian theologians to draw a dividing line between the order of what we believe and what we know. That the distinction of the two disciplines was clearly maintained is indicated in the sharp separation of the personnel in these departments — the artists and the theologians. The University of Paris had accepted the methodological classifications of the Twelfth Century as outlined by Hugh of St. Victor and other scholastics in which the structure of knowledge assumed the form of a pyramid, with the particular sciences at the base, philosophy midway up, and theology at the top. Philosophy and theology are two distinct species of knowledge and it would be absurd to expect one to fulfil what is the proper function of the other. The formal object of the one is reason; of the other, faith1.
St. Bonaventure is most insistent on the fundamental im portance of this distinction between philosophy and theology.
In the Prologue of his Breviloquium he states: "Philosophy treats of things as they are in nature, or in the soul according to an acquired knowledge or one naturally inherent in it; but theology, a science founded on faith and revealed by the Holy Ghost, treats of those things which concern grace and glory and also eternal
Wisdom2."
The nature of the certitude at which philosophy arrives is quite different from that of theology. Passing beyond first prin ciples, philosophy acquires its knowledge through experience.
Theology, using a text of Sacred Scripture as its starting point, begins with Revelation. The source of revealed truth is infallible.
Natural reason, also a light of divine origin, can confer infallible certitude upon thought but the question is whether or not human reason, unaided by faith, can work out a system of thought entirely free from error. The great philosophers of the past are proofs of the fact that mere human reason, subject to countless influences
1 "Donum scientiae duo antecedunt: unum est sicut lumen innatum, et aliud est sicut lumen infusum. Lumen innatum est lumen naturalis iudicatorii sive rationis; lumen superinfusum est lumen fidei." Be
Donis S. S. IV. 2, t. V, p. 474.
2 Prol. 3, t. V, p. 205.
8 St. Bonaventure, De Reductione II3
114 DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
of pride and other passions, is liable to go astray3. Thus we see that human reason, fallible in itself, is of insufficient strength to guarantee the truth and soundness of one system and the falsity of others. We must seek elsewhere for an infallible guide to thought.
The safest way to reach truth is not the one which starts from reason and then proceeds from rational certitude to faith but, on the contrary, the way whose starting point is faith and then goes on from Revelation to reason. This way is clearly outlined in the sermon Christus unus omnium magister: "The order is to begin with the firmness of Faith and proceed through the clearness of reason that you may arrive at the sweetness of contemplation, which Christ indicated when He said 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life'4."
Thus we see that human reason may attain its natural object, truth, but this does not mean that it is capable of all philosophical knowledge. It is simply a path to a higher knowledge5; it may attain first principles but, without the aid of Faith, it cannot arrive at a true knowledge of God, its proper object6.
It is evident that the order of theology is the reverse of that of philosophy; philosophy ends at the point where theology begins.
Starting with reason and sense knowledge, the loftiest goal which it may reach is God. Theology, on the other hand, starting with divine revelation, begins with the First Cause7 as if the order of knowledge were the same as the order of beings and descends from the first principle to its effects8.
3 Referring to the doctrines of the pagan philosophers and parti cularly to those of Aristotle concerning punishment and glory, the eternity of the world, and the unity of the intellect, St. Bonaventure wrote: "Sed adhuc isti in tenebris fuerunt, quia non habuerunt lumen fidei." Cf. In Hexaem., VII. i, 2, t. V, p. 366; In Hexaem. I. 6-8, t. V, p. 330. "Intellectus est semper rectus . . . secundum respicit leges aeternas et ab ipsis recipit et in eis speculatur, non autem qualitercumque ex se movetur, immo frequenter est obliquus et erroneus."
Ill Sent., 33, 3, ad 5, t. Ill, p. 718 b. "Ratio non solum infirmatur per ignorantiam, sed etiam per hebetudinem et praecipitationem."
Ibid., 34, 1, 2, 1, ad 2. t. Ill, p. 746 b.
4 Sermo IV, De Rebus Theologicis, t. V, p.571.
5 "Philosophica scientia via est ad alias scientias; sed qui ibi vult stare cadit in tenebras." De Donis S. S., IV, 12, t. V, p. 476.
6 "Esto, quod homo habeat scientiam naturalem et metaphysicam, quae se extendit ad substantias summas, et ibi deveniat homo, et ibi quiescat; hoc est impossibile, quin cadat in errorem, nisi sit adiutus lumine fidei, scilicet ut credat homo Deum trinum et unum, potentissimum et optimum secundum ultimam influentiam bonitatis." Ibid.
7 "Incipiendum est a medio, quod est Christus . . . Unde ab illo incipiendum necessario, si quis vult venire ad sapientiam christianam."
In Hexaem., I, 10, t. V, p.330.
8 Brevil., I, 1, 3, t. V, p.211.
THE RELATION OF PHILOSOPHY TO THEOLOGY 115
Faith is not a principle of philosophical knowledge but it is a safe guide to rational truth and an infallible warning against philosophical error. There can be no contradiction between the truths revealed directly by the God of Truth and Wisdom and those embodied by the same God in the visible works of His
Hands. Therefore, since faith and knowledge spring from the same divine source, there is no reason why they cannot grow into an organic unity. Among the truths which the Christian believes is the divine promise later to contemplate the God of his faith and in that contemplation to enjoy beatitude. Hence, his effort to investigate the mysteries of Revelation by the natural light of reason, an effort which St. Bonaventure calls intellects, under standing, a gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the reward of faith.
For proof of the Seraphic Doctor's attitude regarding the use of human reason, we have only to consider his doctrine of grace, the characteristic feature of which is the real distinction which he makes between the virtues and the gifts. The virtues, faith, for example, begins the work of regeneration in the soul weakened by original sin and imparts all that is strictly necessary to bring it into right relation with God. Co-operation with grace brings with it the more lavish flow of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and prepares the soul for a higher state, namely, the beatitudes and per mits it, as far as possible in this world, to behold God face to face®.
The gifts are midway between the virtues and the beatitudes.
It is the gift of understanding that helps the intelligence to dis cover the content of faith, to impart a knowledge not only of the divine nature itself but also a knowledge of the divine nature as reflected in creatures. Theologian and simple believer alike are enlightened by this gift but the mere philosopher, deprived of the assistance of faith, is likewise cut off from the assistance of the Holy Ghost10. With this close union of reason and faith as a basis for his system, St. Bonaventure gives evidence of the perfect oneness of Christian Wisdom* 11. The whole structure of his mysti cism is built on the legitimacy of an act of knowledge, into which 9 "Unde in solo statu gloriae videbitur Deus immediate et in sua substantia, ita quod nulla ibi obscuritas ... In statu vero miseriae videtur per speculum obscuratum per peccatum primi hominis; et ideo nunc videtur per speculum et in aenigmate.'' II Sent., 23, 2, 3, Concl., t. II, p. 545.
10 "Has radices ignoraverunt philosophi; fides ergo sola divisit lucem a tenebris." In Hexaem., VII. 13, t. V, p. 367.
11 "Quia omnis sapientia de Deo in via absque fide magis est stultitia quam vera scientia. Deprimit enim perscrutantem in errorem, nisi dirigatur et iuvetur per fidei illuminationem; unde per ipsam non expellitur, sed magis perficitur." Ill Sent., 24, 2, 3, Concl., t. Ill, p. 524.
Il6 DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
both the light of faith and the light of reason enter, the one strengthening the other.
In his De Donis St. Bonaventure makes clear the stages by which the soul advances along the way to its final goal, peace.
Setting out with the torch of faith, it travels along the path of philosophy, theology, and grace and finally arrives at the Light of Glory. Each stage is a step leading to something beyond and has use only in view of its end. Philosophic knowledge lies between faith and theological knowledge. Theological knowledge, in turn, is a mere passage-way between philosophy and the gift of Knowl edge as is the gift of Knowledge between theology and the Light of Glory. Philosophy is the first step on the soul's journey to God12.
The deep reverence which St. Bonaventure entertains for Sacred Scripture breathes forth in all his writings. In the Breviloquium, it is a huge cross reaching from the uttermost bounds of heaven to the depths of hell, its wide arms spread out on either side embracing the whole universe. Only under the form of this cross, that is, in the light of Sacred Scripture, can the mind of man obtain a true perspective of all creation13. His vision dimmed by Adam's sin, man stands before the world of sense like a dunce before a Hebrew text14. God came to his aid by Revelation whose content is found in Sacred Scripture, a book written in large letters and a kind of dictionary to aid in the translation of a forgotten tongue. It teaches that God is a Triune Being and helps man to trace the impress of that Trinity upon the work of His hands. It discovers to him the allegorical, moral, and anagogical meanings of Sacred Scripture and makes all things lead man to the knowledge, love, and praise of God15.
12 "Hie notandum est, quod est claritas scientiae philosophicae, scientiae theologicae, scientiae g/atuitae, et claritas scientiae gloriosae.
Claritas scientiae philosophicae est magna secundum opiftionem hominum mundialium, parva tamen est in comparatione ad claritatem scientiae christianae. Claritas vero scientiae theologicae parva videtur secundum opinionem hominum mundialium, sed secundum veritatem magna est. Claritas scientiae gratuitae est maior, sed claritas scientiae gloriosae est maxima; ibi est status." De Donis S. S., IV. 3, t. V, p. 474.
13 "Unde ipsa agit de toto universo quantum ad summum et imum, primum et ultimum, et quantum ad decursum intermedium, sub forma cuiusdam crucis intelligibilis, in qua describi habet et quodam modo videri lumine mentis tota machina universi." Breuil., Prol., 6, t. V, p. 208.
14 "Cum vero per peccatum hominis oculus caligavit, speculum illud factum est aenigmaticum et obscurum, et auris intelligentiae interioris obsurduit ad illud testimonium audiendum." De myst. Trin. q. 1, a. 2; t.V, 55 a. "Cadente autem homine, cum amisisset cognitionem, non erat qui reduceret eas in Deum. Unde iste liber, scil. mundus, quasi emortuus et deletus erat." In Hexaem. XIII, n. 12, t. V, p. 390 a.
15 "Unde iste liber, scilicet mundus, quasi emortuus et deletus erat; necessarius autem fuit alius liber, per quern iste illuminaretur, ut
THE RELATION OF PHILOSOPHY TO THEOLOGY
The purpose of the De Reductione is not so much to show that the material world which emanated from God was patterned after the ideas of God and must therefore return to Him, but rather that the secular sciences under the lumen exterius, inferius and interius must borrow the lumen superius of revelation in order fully to understand and appreciate the material universe and to refer it to the Principium. It is, therefore, primarily a reductio of all lumina to the lumen superius and then to the Pater luminum or to the lux fontalis, faciens lumen. Thus, it is evident that the Reductio deals primarily with the epistemological rather than with the metaphysical problem. We are dealing, then, prima facie with the Bonaventurian theory of knowledge. This is what Father
Bonaventure Trimole insists upon when he says that St. Thomas deals primarily with the Divine Being, but St. Bonaventure with the truth of the Divine Being18.
In the six branches of knowledge into which the fourfold light descendens a Patre luminum subdivides itself, St. Bonaventure sees an analogy to the six days of creation17. Corresponding to the first day on which God made light, the forma substantialis of all corporeal matter, is the knowledge of Sacred Scripture. As light is the most noble substance in the natural order, so is the knowl edge of Sacred Scripture the most elevated science in the hierarchy of human knowledge. As all material creation began with the light of the first day, so all the secular sciences or "artes" are directed to the understanding of Sacred Scripture: they are contained in it and perfected by it; under its direction, they will arrive at the Light of Glory where all knowledge shall be de stroyed18.
The six days help us to understand St. Bonaventure's line of argument. In vita ista we have six ways of acquiring knowledge, namely, by the six sciences or lumina all of which come from the Father of lights. The perfect number six19 signifies the perfection acciperet (scil., homo) metaphoras rerum. His autem liber est Scripturae, qui ponit similitudines, proprietates et metaphoras rerum in libro mundi scriptarum. Liber ergo Scripturae reparativus est totius mundi ad Deum cognoscendum, laudandum, amandum." In Hexaem., XIII,
12, t. V, p. 390.
16 Op. cit., p. 108. According to St. Thomas, Exemplarism is based on the "gottliche Sein"; according to St. Bonaventure on the "gottliche Seinswahrheit".
17 St. Bonaventure has another parallel in the Itiner., c. 1, n. 3 to 6, t. V, p. 297, and still another in In Hexaem. Coll. III. 24, t. V,
P-3471 n 18 "Charity never faileth; whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed" (I Cor. 18:8).
19 Six is the first number which is the sum of its aliquot parts, i. e., of its sixth, third, and half. An aliquot part is a part which will exactly
Il8 DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
of God's creation20 and of human knowledge which finds its per fection in Sacred Theology. This science of the supernatural order falls on the first day of the week and the light which it sheds is needed to walk the rest of the week, that is, the natural order of the artes. By walking in the light of the first day, we shall walk in the true light of faith, of a good life and shall ultimately attain to the eternal day, the great Sabbath which knows no evening.
Hence St. Bonaventure insists on the ultimate end of all knowledge — the understanding of Sacred Scripture and especially of the anagogical meaning for through it the illuminatio refertur ad
Deum, unde habuit ortum. Here is the spiritual and final note of his conference: completus est circuius, completus est senarius, et propterea status21.
The glory of the blessed in heaven, like their happiness, con sists in the beatific vision. To render the created intellect capable of this glory there is necessary not only an increase of man's natural power but also a special superadded grace which St. Bona venture calls the lumen gloriae, the light of glory. By this super natural and habitual gift of God, the intellect of man is illumined and enabled to see God intuitively face to face22. The words of the Psalmist are fulfilled for all eternity: "In thy light, we shall see light" (Ps 35:10). God is known as He is: in Unity and Trinity and in all perfection. The souls of the blessed see the mysteries of faith, the unfathomable mystery of God's mercy, the vast glory of His creation. Their personal vision of God and their perfect knowledge of Him produce the union which is their ecstatic blessedness. divide a number. Four is a part of nine, but not an aliquot part, but one is, for it is the ninth part; and three is, for it is the third part. Yet these two parts, the ninth and the third, or one and three, do not make the sum nine. Therefore nine is not a perfect number. "Secundum enim arithmeticum senarius est numerus perfectus, quia constat ex omnibus suis partibus aliquotis, ita quod nec deficit nec excrescit. Partes autem aliquotae dicuntur, quae sumtae aliquoties reddunt totum.". II Sent.,
12, 1, 2. Concl. 1 a, t. II, p. 297. Cf. St. Augustine, De genesi ad lift., IV.
21, 38 ff. Migne, P.L., t. 34. 311.
20 "Et hoc idem voluit per senarium dierum differre, ut in perfectione numeri simul ostenderetur perfectio universi." II Sent., 12, 1, 2, t. V, p. 297.
21 De Reduc. art. ad Theol., n. 7, t. Y, p. 321. Cf. supra p. 28. For a detailed account of the spiritual life according to St. Bonaventure, consult Father E. Longpr6, "Saint Bonaventure" in Dictionnaire de
Spiritualite, col. 1768-1843. Cf. 'also Father J. Bonnefoy, O. F. M., Le Saint-Esprit et Ses Dons selon Saint Bonaventure, Paris, 1929.
22 "In statu gloriae videtur Deus in maiestate in sui substantia . . . sed in statu innocentiae videbatur . . . mediante speculo claro sine aliqua obscuritate." Sermo I in Domin. XII. post Pentec. I, t. IX, p. 399 a.