Digital Continent Digital Continent_Template amended | Page 33

[the world] is said to be made (fieri) it means that it has a beginning (principium). When it is said
to be eternal, it means that it has no beginning.” 60
The disagreement between Aquinas and Bonaventure regarding the possibility of the
eternity of the world rests on their distinct concepts of creation. Their views of creation are not
contradictory, but Bonaventure requires more of the act of creation than Aquinas. Moreover,
Bonaventure’s restriction excludes the possibility of eternal duration of the universe. Viewed
against the historical background outlined at the beginning of the chapter, Bonaventure’s
understanding of creation flows more smoothly from the positions of his predecessors at Paris
and Oxford than the position of Aquinas. However, elements of Aquinas’s position can be seen
in in arguments of Augustine, Boethius and Maimonides.
60
Ibid, 23.
Page 23 of 62