Dist. 14, Art. 1, Q. 1
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/3/d/14/q/bon-sent-III-d14-a1-q1
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### Article I. *On the knowledge which the soul of Christ had of the Word.*
### Question I. *Whether the soul of Christ knows the Word by a knowledge other than that which is the Word itself.*

Concerning the first the procedure is thus, and it is asked whether the soul of Christ knows the Word by a knowledge other than that which is the Word itself. And that the Word is known by that soul without any other intervening wisdom seems to be the case:

1. Because the uncreated Word is not only *wisdom*, but also the *fount of wisdom*, as is said in the first chapter of Ecclesiasticus; but wisdom united to the soul is not known by the mediation of another, for thus it would be to go off into infinity: since therefore the Word, which is wisdom, is united to the soul of Christ, it seems that it is known by itself and not through any intervening habit.

2. Likewise, for the knowledge of a nature nothing more is required except a *knower* and a *knowable* and a *union* of the one with the other; but the uncreated Word is united to the

soul of Christ wholly immediately: therefore it seems that, just as it is united by itself, so by itself, without any medium, it is known by the soul of Christ.

3. Likewise, the Word united to the soul itself is as intimate, or more so, as the soul is to itself, or as some habit which is in the soul; but the soul of Christ knows itself through its own essence, it knows also the habits which are in it by themselves, not through a medium: therefore by parity of reasoning also the Word united to it.

4. Likewise, the human nature in Christ is united to the Word in the unity of person and hypostasis: therefore, since such a union brings about a communication of properties, in the same way Christ the man knows the uncreated Word itself by that by which the Word knows itself; but the Word knows itself not through any intervening habit: therefore also Christ the man. But Christ knows nothing except as to the soul according to the human nature: therefore the soul of Christ knows the Word itself through the wisdom which is the Word.

**On the contrary:** 1. Wisdom or knowledge is the perfection of the intellect and that by which the intellect knows formally; but the uncreated Word cannot be united to the soul as a perfection to the perfectible: therefore it is necessary that, besides the wisdom which is the Word itself, the soul of Christ have a created habit either for knowing the Word, or something else.

2. Likewise, God is most intimate and most present to every soul, yet he is not seen by all, but only by the Blessed; but this is not on account of a diversity on the part of the *known*: therefore on account of a diversity on the part of the *knowers*. Therefore, if this is by something given to them, it seems then that, for the soul to know God, it is necessary that some created light be infused into it, which is in one and not in another: therefore it seems that the soul of Christ knows the Word united to it through the support of some created light.

3. Likewise, although the uncreated Word is united to the eye of Christ and to all the parts of the body, it is nevertheless not known by the eye, and this because there is not in it a disposition for knowing a spiritual thing: therefore by parity of reasoning, however much the uncreated Word be united to the soul of Christ, unless the soul be disposed

to see God through a light that makes it deiform, it will never behold it: therefore it seems that it knows the uncreated Word through an intervening habit.

4. Likewise, the more clearly God is seen, the more necessary it is that the eye be more disposed; but the soul of Christ most clearly, above all creatures, sees the Word united to it: therefore it is necessary that its intellect be most disposed for this. But it cannot be disposed for this except through some intervening habit: therefore etc.

> **Conclusion.**
> The knowledge by the mediation of which the soul of Christ knows the Word united to it is not the Word itself, but an effect of the Word and something created.

**I respond:** For the understanding of the foregoing it must be noted that, when it is asked whether the *knowledge* by which the soul of Christ knows the Word united to it is the Word itself, or something created; if it is understood of knowledge *in act*, it is without doubt certain that it is other, because this *began to be* and *is an act* of the soul and from the soul; but the Word is eternal and is not from the soul, but from God. — But if *knowledge* be taken as *that by the mediation of which* we know, then there has been a diversity of opinions.

For some have wished to say that not only in Christ, but also in all the other Blessed, the *wisdom* by which they know God is the eternal wisdom; and these also hold that the *love* by which the Saints and Blessed love God is the Holy Spirit himself. For they regard it as unfitting that that *wisdom*, or *love*, should be an accident and not a substance, since it is more noble than the soul. Likewise they regard it as unfitting that that wisdom and love should make the soul to know and to love, while it itself does not know and love, since a knowing thing is more noble than a non-knowing one. They regard it also as unfitting that our *beatitude*, which is the supreme good, should consist in accidents. — But to all these things a reply was given above, in the first book, distinction seventeen, and in the second, distinction twenty-six. This position too has been disproved; whence the common opinion holds the contrary. For we posit *created wisdom*, which is a habit, and *created love*, and *created grace* and also the other virtues. For it would be utterly absurd to say that *faith* were God, and *hope*, and so of the other virtues, unless this were said *causally*. And therefore this position is to be numbered among the extraneous positions, for the reason that it departs too far from the common way.

And therefore others have wished to say that, although other men know the uncreated Word by the mediation of a habit of created knowledge, and Christ also as to the knowledge of *comprehension*, in which he shares with other men; nevertheless as to the knowledge of *union*, since he has the Word itself intimately united to him, he knows without any other intervening habit. For since he has the uncreated wisdom united to him, not through a medium but through itself, he can know by it; and this is proper to that soul alone which was assumed by the Word. For it alone has this mode of knowledge, just as in it alone is found the excellence of such a union. — But although that seems more probable than the foregoing, nevertheless it deviates from the truth, if one looks closely. For the Word is not united to the soul of Christ in that blessed union as a knowable to a knower, or as a habit to a potency, or as a perfection to the perfectible; but it is a union in unity of person, which can be without knowledge; as is plain in the flesh of Christ, which is united to the Word and yet does not know it.

Therefore another *mode of union* must needs be present in order that the soul may know the Word united to it in unity of person; but this is by an assimilation of the knower to the known, and thus by a certain *influence*, which makes the knowing soul itself like to God and deiform, and thus by a certain habit informing the soul itself, which habit indeed cannot be anything but something created. For something uncreated cannot be as the form of the soul

itself. — And therefore it must be said in a third way, that the soul of Christ, like the souls of the other Saints also, knows the uncreated Word through *created wisdom*, which disposes the cognitive potencies of those souls and renders them conformed, so that they may know that eternal light.

Nor can it be understood otherwise. For how can the soul know the eternal light and behold the highest brightness, without itself being made bright and luminous? But the soul of Christ, because it was assumed by the Word, has a greater deiformity, and through this a more perfect and more eminent knowledge, than any soul blessed through glory. — Whence it is not to be understood that the knowledge of *union* is distinguished from the knowledge of *comprehension* as though it were not through some intervening habit, but because a more excellent and ampler deiformity and brightness has been conferred on the soul of Christ from this, that it is united to the Word, than from this, that it is simply blessed. — The reasons proving that the soul of Christ knows the Word by some knowledge formally are therefore to be granted — which, I say, is not the Word itself, but an effect of the Word, which, I say, the Word produces in the most blessed soul of Christ.

1. To that, then, which is first objected on the contrary, that the Word itself is wisdom, and wisdom is known by itself; it must be said that the Word itself is the wisdom by which the rest are known, both the Word itself and the things that are from it. But it must be attended to that that ablative can be construed *formally* or *causally*. If *formally*; thus the eternal wisdom is to itself the ground of knowing. If *causally*; thus all things are known by it, because it makes the rest to be known; but it cannot be understood *formally*, because it cannot be the form of a created knower, unless it be called an *exemplar form*. And since every perfect act of knowing is from wisdom not only *effectively*, but as from a *form perfecting* the very knowing substance; hence it is that for knowing the fount of wisdom there is required a wisdom which is derived from that fount. Nor is it to proceed to infinity, because there is there a *terminus*, namely in the wisdom or knowledge which is the form and habit of the soul.

2. To that which is objected, that there is there a knower and a knowable and a union; it must be said that not every union of knower to knowable suffices for knowledge, but rather it is required that they be united after the *mode of a knower*. For just as was shown in the objecting, God is in all things essentially and is intimate to all, and yet is known by few; and therefore, although the uncreated Word is united to the soul, it is nevertheless not known by this, that it is united in unity of person, but by this, that the intellect of the soul united to it is made conformed to it through the influence of light. For it is necessary that the intellect be in some way formed and informed by the intelligible itself, in order that it may know it.

3. To that which is objected concerning the soul and knowledge, that they are known by themselves, and those things which are essentially in the soul; it must be said that the soul is not said to be known by itself because it is the knowledge by which it knows itself; but *knowledge* is known by itself, since it is united to the knowing potency, inasmuch as it is a knower. But concerning uncreated wisdom it is otherwise, both because it is above the knowing soul — and therefore it is necessary to be elevated through grace — and also because such a union does not suffice, unless another mode of union concur.

4. To that which is objected concerning the communication of properties, it must be said that it is true that that man knows the Word by uncreated wisdom; but although the properties are communicated to that man, they are nevertheless not communicated to the soul of Christ. But we are not now inquiring about the knowledge which is given to that man through the communication of properties, but about that which belongs to him according to the nature of the soul assumed by the Word.