Pars 2, Cap. 10
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/5/d/2/q/bon-brev-p2-c10
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### Chapter X. *On the production of man as regards the body.*

Concerning the human *body*, however, in the state of its first condition, these things are to be held according to the doctrine of the orthodox

faith: namely, that the body of the first man was so founded and formed *from the slime of the earth* that it should nevertheless be *subject* to the soul and in its own manner *proportionable* to it — *proportionable*, I say, as regards an equal *complexion*, as regards a most beautiful and multiform *organization*, and as regards *uprightness of stature*; and *subject*, that it might be *obedient* without rebellion, might also be *propagating* and propagable without lust, might be *capable of growth* without failing, and might also be *unchangeable* toward an incorruption of every kind, with no death intervening; and according to this there was given to it the place of the earthly paradise for a tranquil dwelling. — *Woman* was formed from the side of the man for fellowship and help toward an immaculate propagation; there was also given the *tree of life* for continual growth, and at length for a perfect transformation into a perpetual immortality.

Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: that since the first principle is in producing most powerful, most wise and best, and manifests this in some manner in all its effects, it had most of all to manifest this in the last and noblest effect — of which sort is man, whom it produced last among the other creatures, so that in him most of all the consummation of the divine works might appear and shine forth.

That the *power* of God, therefore, might be manifested in man, it made him out of natures most widely distant, conjoined into one person and nature; of which sort are body and soul, of which the one is a corporeal substance, and the other, namely the soul, is a spiritual and incorporeal substance — which in the genus of substance are most widely distant.

But that the *wisdom* of God might be manifested in the same place, it made such a body as would have, in its own manner, a *proportion* to the soul. Since, therefore, the body is united to the soul as to what *perfects* and *moves* it and *tends upward to beatitude*: therefore, that it might be conformed to the *life-giving* soul, it had an equal *complexion* — not from *weight* or *mass*, but from *the equality of natural justice*, which disposes toward the noblest mode of life. — And that it might be conformed to the soul as *mover*, through the multiformity of its powers, it had a *multiformity of organs* with the utmost gracefulness and artistry and pliancy; as appears in the face and in the hand, which is « the organ of organs ». — And that it might be conformed to the soul *tending upward to heaven*, it had *uprightness of stature* and a head erect on high; so that thus bodily uprightness might bear witness to uprightness of mind.

Lastly, that the *goodness* and benevolence of God might be manifested in man, it therefore made man without any stain and guilt and without any punishment or misery. For since the first principle is at once *best* and *most just*: because *best*, it ought not to make man other than good, and through this innocent and upright; because *most just*, it ought not to inflict punishment on him who had no sin at all. And through this it constituted for that rational soul such a body as would be so *obedient* to it that there would be in it no strife of rebellion, no proneness to lust, no diminution of vigour, no corruption of death; and would likewise be so *conformed to the soul* that, just as the soul was innocent and yet could fall into guilt, so the body would be impassible and yet could fall into punishment; and therefore « it could not die, and it could die »; it could have sufficiency, and it could have want; it could obey the soul, and it could also have rebellion and strife against it.

And for this reason, in that state the body was such that from it there would come a *seminal severance* for the propagation of offspring, through the aid of the female sex co-originating equally with it; there would also come a *consuming of the nutrimental humour* through the action of heat; and there would nonetheless come a *restoration* through the food of the trees of paradise, the radical moisture being restored — or rather preserved — through the tree of life; which tree indeed had this power, on account of which, as Augustine says, it was not only for food but also for a Sacrament. — The incorruption, therefore, and immortality of Adam's body came principally from the *soul* as from that which contains and inflows; from *the good and equal complexion of the body* as from that which disposes and receives; from the *tree of life* as from that which

gives growth and support; and from the *governance of divine providence* as from that which inwardly conserves and outwardly protects.