Bonaventure Contemplation

Once again, it might seem that Bonaventure is focusing exclusively on contemplation as the final stage of our knowledge of Christ. However, we can hold that this description of contemplation is a valid account of the complete achievement of any sort of knowledge on our part. According to Cullen, for Bonaventure the exemplars of creation represent the supreme degree of truth . Thus, insofar as Christ as the eternal word contains beings in their eternity, to contemplate him is to come to know everything in its most "true" shape – or, the pursuit for the final knowledge of any reality will lead to the contemplation of Christ. In the present terms, we can say that once we attain the stage of contemplation we come to refine so much our provisional
Immediately after having discussed the nature of contemplation, he writes that 'from the aforesaid, then, it is evident in what order and from what master one achieves wisdom. For the order is that one begins with the stability of faith and advances through the serenity of reason, so as to achieve the sweetness of contemplation'. Furthermore, he adds that 'the philosophers ignored this order: neglecting faith and grounding themselves entirely on reason, they could in no way achieve contemplation' . In the Augustinian tradition, wisdom indicates perfect knowledge, or, a knowledge which beholds the divine light itself. It is clear by the above discussion and by this last quotation how we can achieve this perfect knowledge only through the mediation of a less-than perfect cognition . Accordingly, I have discussed how the three modes of cognition connectwith one another, and in particular how faith does not stand in opposition to reason. Instead, the former supports and corroborates the findings of the latter, pushing the two of them toward their own final goal, their perfection obtained by knowing in the mode of
In this sense, the pattern I showed according to which faith originates and sustains knowledge until contemplation reflects the general structure of Bonaventure metaphysical thought as built around the three concepts of emanation, exemplarity, and consummation : as faith is grounded on the emanation of authority and of the revealing light from God, reason reflects on the relationship between creation and the divine exemplars, and finally contemplation signals the return of the mind in the divinity. Then, this means that Bonaventure's work around this area can be of great relevance to all those interested into challenging any epistemological paradigm which sets faith and knowledge one against the other. Moreover, it creates the basis for the formulation of a new paradigm, one which understands faith as an eliminable component of our effort for achieving knowledge of our