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| Bonaventure |
Giovanni di Fidanza (Bonaventure), in his biography of Saint
Francis of Assisi, recounts how his commitment to Saint Francis began when as a
young boy he was healed from a serious illness after his mother prayed to Francis.
Giovanni took the name Bonaventure after he entered the Franciscan Order while
a student at the University of Paris. He earned a doctor in theology degree, was
elected as the leader (General Minister) of the Franciscan Order in 1257, and
became Cardinal of Albano in 1274. He died just two months later on July 15,
1274, and was canonized as a saint in 1482.
Many of Bonaventure’s contributions to parable
interpretations are found in his massive commentary on the Gospel of Luke. His exegeses
include allegorical elements, since the Holy Spirit can lead interpreters to
understand Scripture’s depth in “the multiplicity of its mystical
understandings” beyond the literal words, but Bonaventure’s approach is
significant because he also includes non-allegorical interpretations of
parables (see Bonaventure 2001: xx-xxxii; 2003: x-xii; McKim 2007: 203).
Bonaventure’s interpretation of the Rich Man and Lazarus parable
includes not only over one hundred twenty citations of Jewish Scriptures and
over forty-five citations of the New Testament but also citations of over
thirty earlier interpreters, such as John Chrysostom, Bede, Boethius, Gregory
the Great, and Peter of Ravenna (Bonaventure 2001: 1516-51).
Augustine had argued that the rich man allegorically symbolizes
those Jews who were filled with pride, Lazarus represents a poor tax collector
or the Gentiles, the rich man’s purple and linen clothes represent the kingdom
of heaven that will be taken away from the Jews, the banquets denote the Jews’
boasting about the Law, and so forth (see Wailes 1986: 255-6). Bonaventure,
however, avoids all such allegorical interpretations: “this passage has more
the character of an example than of a
parable,” and it functions as an
“exemplum of punishment for a lack of mercy” (Bonaventure 2001: 1516). Bonaventure
also emphasizes the physical reality of what occurs in this “exemplum” to inform/warn
his readers about the dangers of wealth, and Bonaventure finds three important
lessons to learn (1516-1551):
First, the rich man lacked mercy because he loved himself
and was filled with wicked desires: “For through its love for earthly things
the spirit grows fat and is weighed down, so that it cannot travel into the
higher realms of heaven.” The rich man also takes excessive pride in the glory
of his “handsome and precious garments,” and his love of sumptuous banquets indicates
his sin of gluttony.
Second, this sinful lack of mercy results in a “merciless
and impious” indifference toward his neighbor, Lazarus, who was sick,
abandoned, and starving. In contrast, Bonaventure argues, Lazarus was holy and
good. He shows patience, for example, in spite of the cruelty of the rich man,
but the ultimate evidence of his piety is that he “was borne away by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.”
Third, the punishment for the rich man’s merciless
indifference to Lazarus was “being cast into the calamity of hell.” Even though
the rich man saw Lazarus’s need, he does not have mercy. Agreeing with others
such as Macrina the Younger (although he does not refer to her) that the soul
is what is being tortured, Bonaventure says that the “flame was real, but the
tongue was imagined.” Bonaventure thus focuses on the physical reality of
sin/punishment and faith/blessing.
Bonaventure’s monumental commentary on Luke is a tremendous
achievement, and one that creatively combines literal and allegorical
interpretations of the biblical text as Bonaventure seeks to enlighten his
readers with the depth of Scripture’s insights. The literal meaning is never
abandoned, but the allegorical meaning yields deeper “mystical” understandings.
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