Dist. 35
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/35/q/bon-sent-III-d35-littera
----------------------------------------
### DISTINCTION XXXV.

### Chapter I. *On wisdom and knowledge, in what they differ.*

After the foregoing, it must be diligently considered in what wisdom differs from knowledge. Concerning this Augustine speaks thus: «The philosophers, disputing about wisdom, defined it, saying: Wisdom is the knowledge of things human and divine. I too do not deny that the cognition of both kinds of things, that is, of things divine and human, can be called both wisdom and knowledge. But according to the distinction of the Apostle, by which he said: To one is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, that definition must be divided, so that the cognition of things divine be properly named wisdom, but the cognition of things human properly obtain the name of knowledge. Nor indeed do I assign to this knowledge whatever can be known by man in human affairs, where there is very much superfluous vanity and harmful curiosity, but only that by which the most wholesome faith, which leads to true beatitude, is begotten, nourished, defended, strengthened; with which knowledge very many of the faithful are not endowed, although they are endowed in a high degree with the faith itself. For it is one thing to know merely what a man ought to believe for the sake of attaining the blessed life; it is another thing to know how this very thing may both help the pious and be defended against the impious, which is called by its proper word knowledge». Concerning these two virtues also the same Augustine, assigning the difference between them, says upon the Psalm: «Wisdom differs from knowledge, holy Job bearing witness, who in a certain manner, defining each, says: Wisdom is piety, but knowledge is to abstain from evils. And by piety in this place he set down the worship of God, which in Greek is called theosebia, which consists in the cognition and love of that which always is and abides unchangeably, which is God. But to abstain from evils is to live prudently in the midst of a depraved nation». The same [Augustine] too, plainly distinguishing between these two, says in the twelfth book On the Trinity: «Action, by which we use temporal things well, differs from the contemplation of eternal things, and the latter is assigned to wisdom, the former to knowledge; although even that which is wisdom can be called knowledge, as the Apostle speaks, where he says: Now I know in part; which knowledge he assuredly wishes to be understood of the contemplation of God. In this therefore is the difference, that wisdom pertains to contemplation, but knowledge to action». — Behold, it has been plainly shown in what the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of knowledge differ, namely that wisdom is attributed to things divine, knowledge to things human. And as Augustine teaches, we acknowledge both in Christ, namely both a divine thing and a human thing, and therefore concerning him we have wisdom and knowledge. «For when it is read: The Word was made flesh; in the Word is understood the true Son of God, in the flesh is recognized the true son of man». Likewise, when it is said: We saw [him] full of grace and truth; let us refer grace to knowledge, and truth to wisdom, because in Christ knowledge and wisdom were fully, and we have knowledge and wisdom concerning him, who is God and man.

### Chapter II. *In what wisdom differs from understanding.*

The difference between knowledge and wisdom having been shown, let us see what distinguishes wisdom from understanding. — In this those two differ, that wisdom is properly of eternal things, which is intent upon contemplating the eternal Truth; but understanding is not only of eternal things, but also of things invisible and spiritual that have arisen temporally. For by it both the supreme nature, which made all natures, that is the divine, is considered, and the spiritual and invisible natures which are after it, such as the Angels and all the good affections of the soul, are beheld. In this therefore is the difference, that by wisdom the Creator alone is beheld, but by understanding both the Creator and a certain creature. Likewise, by understanding we grasp intelligible things only, but by wisdom we not only grasp higher things, but also delight in the things known. Thus therefore one can distinguish among those three, namely knowledge, understanding, and wisdom: knowledge avails for the right administration of temporal things and for good conduct among the wicked, understanding for the speculation of the Creator and of the invisible creatures, but wisdom for the contemplation and delight of the eternal Truth alone.

### Chapter III. *Whether the understanding and knowledge which are numbered among the gifts are those which man has naturally.*

And it is to be noted that the understanding and knowledge which are called gifts of the Holy Spirit are other than the understanding and knowledge which are naturally in the soul of man. For these are virtues which are infused by grace into the minds of the faithful, that by them they may live rightly; but the former man has naturally by the benefit of creation, yet from God. But by these virtues, which are called gifts of the Holy Spirit, those natural things are reformed and aided

— as for example, the natural understanding, darkened by sin, is reformed and aided for understanding by a certain virtue and grace which is called the spirit of understanding; so too by that virtue which is called the spirit of wisdom, the reason of the mind is helped and raised up to the contemplation and delight of the eternal Truth. This too is to be known, that the wisdom of which we now treat is not that wisdom of God, as Augustine says, which is God, but the wisdom of man, yet such as is according to God and is the true and chief worship of him. If therefore the mind of man worship God, of whom it has been made capable and of whom it can be a partaker, it itself becomes wise, and is wise not by its own light, but by participation in that supreme light. This wisdom of man therefore is also of God; yet it is not so of God that by it God is wise; for he is not wise by participation of himself, as the mind is by participation of God. Thus too the justice of God is said [to be] not only that by which he himself is just, but also that which he gives to man, when he justifies the ungodly.

---