Von Balthasar says that the “ethos of the theology in Bonaventure is . . . quite different from the ethos in Thomas Aquinas, whose philosophical point of view tries to reflect the order of the world as rigorously and clearly as possible. In Bonaventure, there is something defeated from the very start; theology is an imposing upon that which is not to be imposed upon, a tireless proposing of new ordering, counting, classifying, gathering the ‘blossoming wilderness’ into bouquets. But in the face of this, the last work remains the experience of being out-trumped, of wonder, of being transported out of oneself.”
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