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Bonaventura: The Minds Road to God

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St. Bonaventura's Itinerarium Mentis ad Deum - "The Minds Road to God" has been recognized by all serious historians of philosophy as one of the shorter philosophical/mystical masterpieces of the middle-ages. In it Bonaventura, b. 1221, 7th head of the Franciscan order at age 36, canonized in 1482, writes his interpretation about the famous scene in which St. Francis receives the stigmata from the Seraph. Bonaventure sees the Seraf's six wings as symbolizing six stages, six steps in the minds road to the Beatitude. The stages take the aspirant up the ladder of the groups and classes of the phenomenal world, assuming that the known classification is, or was, ordained by God, and that the more general the class, the more real it is, and the better it is. The highest, best class being, of course, being itself, which is God. It is there that the mystic is headed. This short work is, firstly, beautiful. Bonaventura writes with all the ecstasy and divine inspiration of a true saint. Second, the book is a fine example of medieval sophism, and I mean that in a good way. I also liked the emphasis Bonaventura lays on seeing. This sense is very important for bonaventura on the way to God. What I liked less is his obsessive insistence of dividing everything into threes, in order to fit the dogma of the trinity - but I guess that can be understood. Boas' translation is very readable and his introduction is eye-opening. All in all, indeed a fascinating assay, written by an intriguing figure