Commentary on the Sentences: Sacraments

This volume is the first to offer an English translation of St. Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Sentences: Book Four, the scope of which is all seven sacraments. Annotations help situate his thinking in the broader theological tradition; explanatory notes as well as introductions help the reader navigate the text.

This volume does not translate all of Bonaventure’s articles or questions on the sacraments found in his Commentary. According to the judgment of the editors, the translation covers the broad scope of Bonaventure’s treatment on sacraments; it presents thereby the foundational principles and fundamentals found in Bonaventure’s sacramental theology, especially as these pertain to the integrity of the external sign and the interior reception of grace. For this selection, the Breviloquium, Bonaventure’s own outline of his theology, was used as a guide. Thus, peripheral or specifically canonical questions were not included in this translation. Otherwise, the task and the final prod­uct would have become unmanageable and even less useful in view of the principal goals mentioned above. Given the centrality of the Eucharist, however, nearly all the questions pertaining to it are included.