Christian History, Theology

Bonaventura and the Journey of the Mind to God

Taught by Ryan Hurd
Crosslist: Christian History
Difficulty: Intermediate
Runs 1/8 – 3/16/24
$225.00 – $399.00

This course embraces the wisdom of Bonaventura on the great return of creation to God, enacted by the return of man achieved in Christ. The written fruit of man’s return is theology proper, where we reflect on who God is by removing all imperfection from God and retaining all perfection. For Bonaventura and the Franciscan tradition especially, this is no mere intellectual reflection, but a reflection of God made in body and soul. Thus, we will consider closely Bonaventura’s Itenerarium and Breviloquium in lectures. In addition, the course will consider Bonaventura’s commentary on John’s Gospel and one of his last spiritual works, the Collations on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, in readings. The student will also be introduced to basic secondary literature, chiefly Gilson’s Philosophy of St Bonaventure, Falque’s Saint Bonaventure and the Entrance of God into Theology, and Ratzinger’s Theology of History in St Bonaventure.

Deadline to register: Friday, December 29th

The syllabus for this course is available now. You can access it here.

 

 

ENROLLMENT OPTIONS

Auditing ($225):

participate in readings and live class sessions, but no graded assignments and no course credit

Full course (Full-Time Discount) ($275):

for-credit courses (at least four per term) toward our Certificate or M.Litt in Classical Protestantism

Full course ($399):

individual classes on a for-credit basis; you can later apply them toward a Certificate or Degree

 

ENROLL NOW

Description

This Theology/Christian History course will be taught by Ryan Hurd, and will run from January 8th through March 16th. The syllabus will be posted when available.

This course embraces the wisdom of Bonaventura on the great return of creation to God, enacted by the return of man achieved in Christ. The written fruit of man’s return is theology proper, where we reflect on who God is by removing all imperfection from God and retaining all perfection. For Bonaventura and the Franciscan tradition especially, this is no mere intellectual reflection, but a reflection of God made in body and soul. Thus, we will consider closely Bonaventura’s Itenerarium and Breviloquium in lectures. In addition, the course will consider Bonaventura’s commentary on John’s Gospel and one of his last spiritual works, the Collations on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, in readings. The student will also be introduced to basic secondary literature, chiefly Gilson’s Philosophy of St Bonaventure, Falque’s Saint Bonaventure and the Entrance of God into Theology, and Ratzinger’s Theology of History in St Bonaventure.

The syllabus for this course is available now. You can access it here.

Ryan Hurd (Doctoral Student, Theologische Universiteit Kampen) is a systematic theologian whose area of expertise is doctrine of God, specifically the Trinity. His primary training is in the high medievals and early modern scholastics as well as the 20th century ressourcement movement. He has written a number of articles and regularly does translations of early modern theology sources; but his primary project is writing a systematics of the Trinity.

Details

Online only, runs 10 weeks, meeting 2 hr./wk. via Zoom. Students will also have the option to participate in class discussion on the Davenant Common Room Discord server. Register to reserve your spot and schedule will be set after a poll of participating students; if the class time does not fit your schedule, you will be eligible for a full refund.

This is a graduate-level course. Although a BA is not a necessary pre-requisite for this course, students should come prepared to do graduate-level work.