The Theology of History in Saint Bonaventure

The Theology of History in Saint Bonaventure is Joseph Ratzinger’s professorial dissertation, originally published in German in 1959, by which he received his university teaching qualification. Focusing on the nature of revelation itself and the distinctive character of Bonaventure’s historical setting, Ratzinger weaves together the various statements which comprise Bonaventure’s theology of history and explicating therefrom the focal point of the Seraphic Doctor’s eschatology and soteriology. First appearing in this English translation in 1969, this remains a significant contribution to eschatology and the study of the intersection of revelation, metaphysics, and history. Yet, in the present day, this book’s most important function may well be to serve as a point of entry to the foundational vision and ideas of Joseph Ratzinger, one of the most distinguished theologians of the last hundred years.