3. Bonaventura and Medieval Mysticism

Throughout the whole history of religious experience there have been two supplementary emphases, the rational and the non-rational, which have vied with each other for men\u27s allegiance. The Thomistic synthesis, with its stress on reason and how reason could prove the existence of God, was thought by many, including St. Bonaventura (1221-1274), to press too far the rational side of religion and thus to detract from the other side, which emphasizes the free g~it of faith, intuitive insight, and mystical experience. This rational emphasis, thought Bonaventura, could lead to intellectual pride and arrogance. It could also lead to a minimizing of that aspect of God which his Augustinian and Neoplatonic leanings led him to stress: the absolute sovereignty of God. [excerpt