1. Bonaventure,
arguments for the
necessity of the
trinity,
and the notion of
fecundity
Dennis Bray
August, 2012

2. Bonaventure & Fecundity
►Introduction
Historical
context
The notion
o f fe c u n d i t y
A rg u m e n t s
fo r Tr i n i t y
T h e a rg u m e n t
f ro m go o d n e s s

3. Bonaventure & Fecundity
► B o n a v e n t u r e ’s T h e o l o g y
The Man
• Early 13th c.
• The Angelic Doctor
• Teacher, thinker, preacher
Scholasticism
• Wed rationality to faith
• Incorporated natural philosophy
• Moved towards systematization

4. Bonaventure & Fecundity
► B o n a v e n t u r e ’s T h e o l o g y
The Mission
Beatitude
• “Ecstatic Union” with God
• Sanctification
• Glorification
Fides Quaeren Intellectum
• “Faith Seeking Understanding”
• Anselm: “I think so that I may believe”
Necessary Reasons
• God is eternal → truths about God are eternal
• Faith informs reason
• Reason informs faith

5. Bonaventure & Fecundity
► B o n a v e n t u r e ’s T h e o l o g y
The Means
Fides Quaeren Intellectum
• “Faith Seeking Understanding”
• Anselm: “I think so that I may believe”
Necessary Reasons
• God is eternal → truths about God are eternal
• Faith informs reason
• Reason informs faith

6. Bonaventure & Fecundity
►The Argument
►Overview
Necessity of the Trinity
The Goal – Give arguments for why God must be a Trinity of divine persons
► Give necessary reasons for a plurality of persons
► Present necessary truths relevant to God and the divine
emmanations
► Show (i) why a truth is necessary, and (ii) why it is
relevant to God and the divine emmanations
2 Main Arguments – (1) Priority & (2) Goodness

7. Bonaventure & Fecundity
►The Argument
►Fecundity
THE NOTION OF FECUNDITY
The Conceptual Neighborhood
Think :
• Production
• Generation
• Creation
• Multiplication
God & Fecundity
• The One God is three persons
The Divine Emanations:
• From the Father comes the Son- “generation”
• From the Father and Son comes the Spirit- “spiration”
This is happening from eternity;
are there eternal (necessary) reasons why it is so?

8. Bonaventure & Fecundity
►Detour : Processions
Why Divine Processions?
Plato, the Good & the God of the philosophers
• Platonic forms – Eternal Ideas
• The form the Good is fundamental: all other forms, and therefore
particulars, participate in the good.
• The Good is the goal of all desires, the end of all things. It must, then, also
be the beginning.
• The Good taken up by Aristotle: perfect good, absolute one, first principle.
• Takeaway: the Good is perfect and self sufficient.
BUT… there is a whole cosmos of mundane, imperfect things…
The Big Questions – Why is there creation? How can there be creation?

9. Bonaventure & Fecundity
►The Argument
►Goodness
An Answer from Bonaventure
• God is perfectly good (is goodness itself).
• Goodness is self diffusive.
• Therefore, God is self diffusive.
Thus we get things like creation and the Trinity
An Argument from Bonaventure
1) Perfect goodness is perfectly self diffusive
2) God is perfectly good
3) Therefore, God is perfectly self diffusive
4) Creation does not partake in the full sharing of God
5) Therefore God must share himself with another divine being
6) Therefore there is a plurality of divine persons

10. Bonaventure & Fecundity
►The Argument
►Goodness
A Metaphysical Principle – *Goodness is self diffusive*
Why should we believe this principle is true?
• Plato and Aristotle were smart
• The world exists, yet except for my curly hair, beagles, and Open Range, is
imperfect
• God is probably perfect(ly good)
But…
• Other really good things are not fecund
Grounding Trinity
• Mind, knowledge, Love
• Nature of love