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1The Latin text used as a basis for the English translation is from Vol, 5 of St.
Bonaventures Opera Omnia issued by the College of St. Bonaventure at Quaracchi,
Italy, in 1891.
2Collation 1.1.
Introduction / 3
fundamentally the whole of Gods will in relation to humanity.3
Bonaventure not only starts his sermons by pointing to Christ as
the lifegiver, but also concludes the series of sermons by pointing
to Christ as the liberator from the penalty of sin by his atoning
work on the cross. In the last sermon Bonaventure likens the ten
plagues that God sent against Egypt to the things t h a t
transgressors of the commandments suffer because of their
actions.4 But then Christ is shown as having gone through ten
acts of condescension, presumably to free the transgressor from
the penalty of his sin.5 Bonaventures concluding remark is that
we should always conform to Christ and eat with him so that we
might come to the eternal feast. . . .6 The parallel between this
and the opening passage from Matthew is clear: the eternal feast
or life is the goal; conforming to Christ or keeping t h e
commandments is the way.
In all this Bonaventure demonstrates the essential unity of
the revelation of Scripture. The commandments are not seen only
as a moral code or something given to the Jews alone, but as a
basic component of the Christian life, adherence to which is
commanded by Christ himself. Tavard writes:
To St. Bonaventure the historical passage from t h e
Old Testament to the New Testament embodies t h e
theological scale which divides faith in implicit and
explicit. The substance of faiththat is, belief in God
and Christwas realised in the Old Testament and, as
far as individuals were concerned, there was no radical
difference from what the New Testament was to bring.
Whoever practised the Old Law with implicit f a i t h
already partook of the spirit of the New Testament.7
Following on with the next section of the first sermon
Bonaventure gives four motives or reasons for keeping the commandments.8 The first is the authority of God who gave the com3Hanspeter Heinz, Trinitarische Begegnungen bei Bonaventura (Mnster:
Aschendorff, 1985),16-17.
4Collation 7.10-14.
5Collation 7.15-17.
6Collation 7.18.
14Collation 1.22.
Introduction / 5
aforementioned attributes of the Trinity.15 In the third sermon
Bonaventure speaks in terms which we can line up as follows:16
FATHER
SON
HOLY SPIRIT
Fatherhood
Majesty
Sonship
Truth
Procession
Goodness
Efficient Cause
Exemplary Cause
Final Cause
First Commandment
17Collation 1.23.
18Heinz 22, also speaks of a gradation of descending dignity from the first to
the last commandment.
19Collation 2.6.
Introduction / 7
made a pact with a demon. In 3.2 he relates a story from St.
Gregory the Great (540-604) of a six year old boy who was thrown
into hell for blasphemy. In 3.14 he relates the story of a demon
bowing to a consecrated host. In 5.20 Bonaventure tells of a man
who honored his mother and in 5.21 of a man who did not honor
his father. This second story is unusual because the man dies from
having a toad permanently attached to his face, and this is t h e
only tale which Bonaventure himself attaches some veracity
to.23 And finally in 6.15 Bonaventure relates a story told by
Peter Damian (1007-1072) concerning a man exhausting himself in
the sin of pollution.
As far as Bonaventures exegetical method is concerned, h e
breaks his exposition down into only two senses instead of t h e
more common four senses. For commandments 1-5 he gives both a
literal and a spiritual interpretation. The spiritual
interpretations can be classified as either tropology or allegory.
The problem which arises is in seeing any essential difference
between the literal and spiritual interpretations that he gives.
In fact, for the first two commandments the spiritual
interpretations seem to deal more with the practical or literal
aspects of the commandments, while the literal interpretations
take on a decidedly theological or spiritualizing bent.
For commandments 6-10 Bonaventure gives only a literal
interpretation, dwelling at some length on simply defining t h e
various forms of murder, adultery, theft and lying.
The full treatment and development with which
Bonaventure begins this series of collations ends up by becoming
minimal. By the time the last few collations are reached the
exposition becomes little more than a catalog of sins. Even t h e
closing comments come on abruptly and are not fully developed.
The interest in the content of these sermons of Bonaventure
lies mostly in the fuller exposition found in the earlier
collations; then in the attacks leveled against the Latin
Averroists, the Albigensians and the Jews; and finally in t h e
overall themes expressed throughout the series. The interest in
the style of these sermons lies in the fact that here we have fine
examples both of Bonaventures sermon form and of h i s
expositional approach to Scripture.
23In Collation 5.21 Bonaventure says concerning this story that, I came into
contact with someone who knew the person to whom this happened.
Introduction / 9
against the taking of oaths. This was one of the reasons why t h e
Albigensians found themselves as outcasts in a medieval society
which was based on the taking of oaths and the swearing of
allegiances. In response Bonaventure says they are in error
because they do not understand the force of the words.
Bonaventure tells us that the true interpretation of this passage
is that a person should not swear an oath concerning everything
that he does, but he should swear an oath only for certain special
reasons or occasions.
In Collation 6.5-7 Bonaventure answers the contention made
by the Albigensians that a Christian should not be involved
with killing under any circumstances. The arguments of t h e
Albigensians are presented by pitting the Old Testament against
the New Testament, and the words of the Lawgiver against
those of Christ. Their main point is that there should be no such
thing as a death penalty under the law. Bonaventures reply to
this is that the killing of someone by a person acting on their own
accord is indeed wrong, but the killing of someone by a person
acting under the law is right and justifiable in Gods eyes since in
the latter case the person is acting as Gods minister of justice. To
further clarify the point Bonaventure says that the
administration of justice must also be done with proper intention
and not out of maliciousness or revenge.
The longest and most involved of these responses is made
against objections to Christianity raised by the Jews.
Bonaventure first mentions the Jews in Collation 2.21 where h e
says that Christians should have a better understanding of t h e
Commandments than the Jews since a great light has appeared
to us.
The first response to criticisms that Bonaventure makes
occurs in Collation 3.8-14 and concerns three objections which t h e
Jews raise. These criticisms are that in proposing the Trinity,
Christians are in reality worshipping three Gods; having images
in the Church is the same as worshipping idols; and t h e
celebration of the eucharist is the worshipping of bread.
Bonaventure answers the first criticism by saying that while
the Trinity is a plurality of persons it is a unity of essence.
Another related criticism of the Jews is slipped in at this point
which is that if God has a son why do Christians not give God a
wife? Bonaventure dismisses this as coming from earthly
thinking about God, when only the most elevated contemplation
should be employed.
Introduction / 11
D. Sources quoted
The following lists show how many times Bonaventure quotes
from books of the Bible and other sources in the course of h i s
collations on the Ten Commandments.
1. Bible (This excludes quotes from the text of the
commandments themselves.)
Psalms
Ecclesiasticus
Deuteronomy
Romans
Matthew
Exodus
Genesis
John
Hebrews
Proverbs
Jeremiah
Luke
Ephesians
I John
Leviticus
Ecclesiastes
2.
25
11
10
10
9
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
Daniel
Phillipians
James
I Peter
II Kings
II Chronicles
Job
Isaiah
Micah
Baruch
Mark
I Corinthians
I Timothy
II Timothy
Titus
Revelation
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
3
3
2
Ambrose
Anselm
Peter Damian
Seneca
1
1
1
1
Other sources
Augustine
Gregory
Jerome
Aristotle
SON
HOLY SPIRIT
Unity/Authority
Equality
Community
First Commandment
Second Commandment
Third Commandment
Introduction / 13
This is very similar to what Bonaventure does in Collation 3.2.
A few other similarities are to be found in the use (by both
Lombard and Bonaventure) of the example of the Jews taking of
articles of gold and silver from the Egyptians as not being
theft.27 Also they both use Augustines classification of lies in
dealing with the commandment about bearing false witness.28
Alexander of Hales does not divide the commandments into
tables but rather speaks of three aspects of the Decalogue. These
are the moral, or the commandments themselves; the judicial, or
the cause of judgments; and the ceremonial containing figures of
the future.29 Alexander spends almost half his time on questions
concerning the Decalogue as a whole. When he does finally t a l k
about the individual commandments there is much in common
with the exposition found in Bonaventures Collations.
With the first commandment Hales speaks of the differences
between the worship of dulia and l a t r i a and in doing so talks
about the reverence owed God, Christ, and creatureswhether
angels or human beings.30
With the second commandment Hales speaks of the literal
intent of the command. Beyond this he spends most of his time
considering whether or not the taking of oaths is good and
allowed.31
With the third commandment Hales gives us an exposition
similar in intent to that of Bonaventure, but quite different in
approach.32 Neither deals directly with the day on which t h e
sabbath should be kept, but rather both talk about the meaning
of the day. Hales says that there is something to be understood
about the day in a general way, which is moral and eternal; and
something to be understood in a particular way, which is
ceremonial and temporal. This compares to Bonaventures moral
and ceremonial meanings in Collation 4.6-11. But whereas
Bonaventures solution ends in a blending of these two meanings,
27Lombard, bk. 3, dist. 37, c. 5, n. 4; Bonaventure, Collation 6.17.
28Lombard, bk. 3, dist. 38, c. 1, n. 1; Bonaventure, Collations 7.3 and 7.4.
Introduction / 15
Isidore (c. 560-636) also is quoted as making this division, but
goes on to speak of the first three commandments as pertaining to
the love and knowledge of the Trinity and the last seven as
pertaining to the love of ones neighbor.37 Isidore in another
excerpt refers to Matthew 22:36-40 in relation to this division.38
But the most striking similarity is to be found in a passage where
Isidore, after listing what each commandment prohibits, says
that just as the ten plagues of Exodus were sent to afflict t h e
Egyptians, so the Ten Commandments were given to guide t h e
people of God and to torment the demons.39 Bonaventure fills out
this outline of Isidores in Collation 7.10-14.
Finally it is of interest to compare Bonaventures Collations
with those of Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas treatment begins in a
way similar to that of Bonaventure, in that Aquinas also ties t h e
commandments directly to the life of the Christian. But whereas
Bonaventure does this by devoting part of his first sermon to an
exposition of Matthew 19:17, Aquinas devotes his first two
sermons fully to an exposition of Christs two precepts of love in
Matthew 22:36-40.40 Aquinas then goes on to divide t h e
commandments into the by now familiar groupings of three and
seven. The first three commandments relate to the precept, You
shall love the Lord your God. . . , while the last seven
commandments relate to the precept, You shall love your
neighbor as yourself. Beyond these similarities in approach,
there is little parallel between the works of Bonaventure and
Aquinas in either content or style.
Overall, Aquinas treatment is much more controlled and
even, not like Bonaventures which seems very much abbreviated
and rushed towards the end. But then Aquinas treatment is
stylistically repetitious and dry next to that of Bonaventure. In
Aquinas we find none of the anecdotal illustrations or personal
asides which are in Bonaventures work. Also there are few
references to answering disputed interpretations in Aquinas,
which tend to characterize the work by Bonaventure. Aquinas
exposition proceeds by the use of divisions of the theme
supported by Scripture. Aquinas does not follow the outline of t h e
37Glossa Ordinaria, I, col. 674.
38Glossa Ordinaria, I, col. 679.