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Essay on Two Perspectives of Viewing the World around Us

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There are always two sides to a story, or two ways to look at something. It all depends on the way that you look at things. When reviewing the works of St.Bonaventure, through Step one in the Ascent to God and the Consideration of Him through His Footsteps in the Universe, and from Step two, we learn of to opposing opinions that St. Bonaventure had about different perspectives of the world around us, for different purposes, and with different results. By reading these two pieces I am able to understand them, and how their opposing perspectives differ. I also chose "Harmony with Nature" by Matthew Arnold, and "Gods Grandeur" by Gerald Manley Hopkins to compare in relationship with Step two. I also am comparing the ideas of "Genesis", and …show more content…

Bonaventure 55). Through the studies of scriptures St. Boanventure goes on to say how God created us with goodness in the beginning, and how he believes it to (St. Bonaventure 56). In a brief summary of St. Bonaventure's first step, St. Bonaventure is basically saying that God originally created the world in six days with a pure greatness in mind. In this Step, and through the studies of scripture, St. Bonaveture believes that the world around us is viewed as good, and the idea is related through looking at the world around us with an artistic eye. In Step two from the Consideration of God in His Footsteps in the Visible world, St. Bonaventure uses a different approach on looking a the surrounding world. In step one St. Bonaventure looks at the world around us through an artistic approach. Unlike Step one, St. Bonaventure is looking at the world around us through a scientific point of view, or a scientific background. St. Bonaventure talks about how man perceives everything around him through our five senses. He even uses the terminology of information passing from the external organ (ear), to the internal organ (brain), then to the apprehensive faculty, as a way to describe the idea of how we take in information and process it (St. Bonaventure 113). St. Bonaventure is looking at everything around us, and realizing at one time God had his hand in this. Through a scientific approach and using are knowledge

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