A Structural Analysis of Bonaventure's Omnium artifex docuit me sapientia

Abstract

In the field of medieval studies, principia or inaugural sermons, sermons delivered at the ceremony which inaugurated a new master of theology, have recently received focused attention.1 The new masters at the University of Paris preached these sermons in two parts. The first part typically offered a praise of Scripture and is known as a commendatio or commendation. When the master later resumed his preaching in a second part known as a resumptio or resumption, he often divided the canon of Scripture. Together these two parts form a sermon united at least by the occasion, if not also by topic, and known as a principium. One newly discovered and edited inaugural sermon is Omnium artifex docuit me sapientia, delivered by Bonaventure at the University of Paris in 1254.2 The commendation studies Scripture according to Aristotle’s four causes, and the resumption divides the canon of the arts and returns it to God through Scripture. This sermon has a unique textual history in that, at some point, its resumption was separated from its commendation and became known under its own title, De reductione artium ad theolo-