Saint Bonaventure: The Seraphic Doctor, Minister-General of the Franciscan Order

Costelloe, LaurenceProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.2
Word count
175K words
Chapters
18

Tags

English Originals Historical FiguresReligion Saint BiographyReligious FiguresSpiritual MentorGroup BiographyPath of FaithSpiritual PracticeIntellectual EnlightenmentWestern ThoughtMedieval TheologyFranciscan Order

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Saint Bonaventure: The Seraphic Doctor Minister-General of the Franciscan OrderAuthor: Costelloe, Laurence,Language: English, Class: BX: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Churches, Church movements, Release Date: Aug 16, 2010

Editor's review

This book is Lawrence Costello's biographical study of St. Bonaventure, Minister-General of the Franciscan Order and known as the "Seraphic Doctor," a public-domain work of religious biography. Its value lies in tracing Bonaventure's life from friar to Minister-General from the dual perspectives of order history and intellectual history, and in showing his key role in the institutionalization of the Franciscan Order. The author clearly sets out the controversies within the order and the intellectual currents of the subject's time; the narrative is plain and the material well organized, making it suitable as an introductory reference for understanding the medieval Franciscan Order and scholastic theology. For Chinese readers, the book can also serve as a sample for observing how Western religious biography is written. It is best read alongside background material on church history and medieval philosophy to better understand its theological issues and details of order governance. The ebook is plainly typeset, so it is best read slowly in a quiet setting, with notes on personal relationships and a timeline of events.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction and table of contents first to establish a timeline of Bonaventure's life and the development of the Franciscan Order.
  2. While reading, consult church history materials to clarify the background of controversies within the order and theological issues.
  3. Keep notes on personal relationships and key events for easy review and organization.
  4. Read one or two chapters a day to maintain a steady pace and avoid breaking off because of dense historical material.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18

FAQ

Why is St. Bonaventure called the "Seraphic Doctor"? "Seraphic Doctor" is a traditional title given to St. Bonaventure by later generations, summarizing the love-centered tendency in his theological and spiritual writings. The book touches on the origin of this title when narrating his life and thought; readers can understand it in light of the book's introduction to Bonaventure's works and the practices of his order, without assuming it to be a strict doctrinal definition.
Is this book suitable for readers without a background in religious history? The narrative is plain, but it involves background such as the institutions of the Franciscan Order, scholastic theology, and church governance. Readers with no foundation at all may feel alienated; it is advisable to first supplement concise knowledge of medieval church history, or read it alongside relevant general histories, before entering this book, which will make for smoother reading.
What should I pay attention to when reading the ebook? This is a public-domain ebook with plain typesetting and no modern annotations or introduction. When reading, prepare your own background materials and note-taking tools, and record and check names of people, places, and terms of the order promptly, so that dense information does not hinder understanding.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Costelloe, Laurence Author

Laurence Costelloe is an author about whom little is known from publicly available sources; only one work by this author is recorded, namely Saint Bonaventure: The Seraphic Doctor Minister-General of the Franciscan Order. The title indicates that the writing focuses on medieval Christian thought and the history of the Franciscan Order, centering on the life and identity of Saint Bonaventure, an important theologian and leader of the order. Because public information is limited, the author's nationality, dates of birth and death, education, and academic career cannot be confirmed and are therefore not speculated upon. Judging from the available work, the approach leans toward biography and church history, attending to both intellectual developments and institutional context, and may be of interest to readers concerned with medieval theology and the Franciscan tradition.