Truth and Reality - by Douglas Dales (Paperback)

About the Book

A study of Collations on the Hexaemeron, the last work of Saint Bonaventure, and one of the most important texts of medieval theology.

Book Synopsis

A study of Collations on the Hexaëmeron, the last work of Saint Bonaventure, and one of the most important texts of medieval theology.

This is a thorough study and exposition of the last work for which St Bonaventure was responsible before his death in 1274. The Collations on the Hexaëmeron, also called The Illuminations of the Church comprises lectures that he gave in Paris in 1273 to Franciscan and other students and masters in the university there. They were recorded by two independent witnesses and one version, the definitive one, was prepared for publication and approved by Bonaventure.

This is one of the most interesting, original and important texts of medieval theology and it has been well translated and edited in a new edition. The purpose of this study is to examine the precise context for the approach that Bonaventure took, to place this work as the culmination of his spiritual theology, and to provide the reader with a lucid epitome of the contents of the text, drawing out their significance for theology and prayer in the life of the Church today.

Review Quotes

Dales, like a wise and sympathetic guide, accompanies the reader through the intricacies and insights of Bonaventure's Collations on the Six Days of Creation, drawing out his profound affinity with insights of the Fathers on whom he builds, and whose synthesis between heart and mind he preserves, and demonstrating, too, his ability to bestride the growing gulf between Greek East and Latin West. We encounter Bonaventure as the Schoolman for our times. The trilogy, as a whole, is an immense achievement, which is enhanced by Dales' clarity and the grace of his prose.--Andrew Louth, FBA, Professor Emeritus, University of Durham

This introduction and commentary to St Bonaventure's Collations comes from one of today's most important scholars on the 13th century Franciscan friar, scholar and bishop. Dales shows how, heavily dependent on the Church Fathers, the 'seraphic doctor' warmed intellectual scholasticism with the humility and poverty of St Francis of Assisi, combining his love of Scripture with a search for divine wisdom. Speaking from a time of natural catastrophe and social unrest much like ours today, Bonaventure invites us to pick up the galaxy of mirrors surrounding us to reflect on ourselves, our world, and our need to hope.--Geoffrey Scott, OSB, Abbot Douai

About the Author

Douglas Dales was educated at St Dunstan's College, London, and was a scholar of Christ Church, Oxford: he holds degrees in history and theology. He is a parish priest in eight parishes in the diocese of Oxford, and was Chaplain and Head of Religious Studies at Malborough College. He is married with three children and is the author of Dunstan (1988) and Light to the Isles (2010).