Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, an influential theologian at the Grand Couvent des Cordeliers de Paris, was a prolific writer on numerous theological questions and devotional themes, seventh minister-general of the order (1257–74) and the cardinal bishop of Albano charged with responsibility for negotiating a reunion with the Greek Church at the second council of Lyons, where he died on 15 July 1274. He was one of the most outstanding theologians of the thirteenth century and was the leading authority in the Franciscan school until the era of John Duns Scotus. The steady growth in Bonaventurean studies in the second half of the twentieth century, much of it stimulated by the publication of the acta of international conferences and commemorative volumes published on the seven centenary of the death of the Seraphic Doctor in 1974, is explained by the editors. The book brings together the research of a new generation of periti with the exceptional scholars from the previous era, notably Fr Zachary Hayes, who died just before the publication of the volume, and the late Fr Jacques Guy Bougerol. It is divided into three sections: first, the foundations of Bonaventure's thought illuminated by Marianne Schlosser, Pietro Maranesi, Gregory LaNave and Christopher M. Cullen; second, his theological endeavour is explained by Jacques Guy Bougerol, Zachary Hayes, Joshua Benson, David Keck and J. A. Wayne Hellmann; and thirdly, spirituality and practice, which are illustrated by Ilia Delio, Timothy J. Johnson, Jay M. Hammond, Kevin L. Hughes and Dominic Monti. The survey of Bonaventure's life and writings by Marianne Schlosser is a particularly useful digest of recent scholarship and its comments on works which are no longer regarded as part of the Bonaventurean canon of writings.

The volume is packed with excellent contributions which offer a broad perspective of the Seraphic Doctor's rich theological thought and the controversies into which he was drawn. Pietro Maranesi reviews the various editions of the writings of Bonaventure and recognises the contribution of the late Fr Fedele de Fanna's indefatigable research in various archives in Europe in order to collate the manuscripts which formed the basis of the edition published in ten volumes by the College of St Bonaventure between 1882 and 1902. Despite the debate and some consensus about particular texts circulating under the name of the Seraphic Doctor, he sees no urgent need for a revised edition of the Opera omnia S. Bonaventurae. ‘The Christology of the Breviloquium’ is examined by Joshua Benson, who considers Bonaventure's view that Christ was the centre, the one in whom the first and the last meet. The Seraphic Doctor makes ample use of St Anselm's Cur Deus homo, while emphasising the theme of convenientia regarding the mode of redemption by the Son of God who reverses the fault of Adam and the disorder of original sin in a salvation by contraries. Ilia Delio's ‘Theology, spirituality and Christ the center: Bonaventure's synthesis' explores the theology and philosophy, the depths of mystery, the theologian's journey into God, Christ crucified, the totum integrale, wisdom, the logic of the cross, Francis the model theologian, the metaphysics of Christ the centre and Bonaventure's contribution. The focus on Christ as the centre is developed in the Breviloquium and the Collationes in Hexaëmeron. The pastoral purpose of theological study finds expression in the Breviloquium's dictum that we study theology in order to become good, an appropriate riposte to those who railed against the friars' theological studies and their engagement with the University of Paris following the admission of Alexander of Hales.

Although Bonaventure participated in the debates within the Faculty of Theology, he was a leading spokesman for his own order in the polemical exchanges with the secular masters. Kevin L. Hughes revisits Bonaventure's articulation of the mendicant vocation in the Quaestiones disputatae de perfectione evangelica, the Epistola de tribus quaestionibus ad magistrum innominatum (both 1254/55) and the Apologia pauperum (1269). The first of these was sparked by the complaints brought against the mendicants at the University of Paris. The second text sees the minister-general defending the friars' level of observance and their activities in the schools; there is some speculation that John Pecham may have been the unnamed master. The third text was occasioned by the renewal of the pamphlet war in Paris and the views of Gerard of Abbeville. Bonaventure was the longest-serving minister-general at a time when the order was evolving into a major institution in the Western Church. He conceded that the order had not been unfailingly faithful to the founder's vision. His policies as minister-general are reviewed by Dominic Monti, who suggests that the title ‘second founder of the order’ belongs more fittingly to Haymo of Faversham, the minister-general (1240–4) who laid down the guidelines along which the movement had developed by the time that Bonaventure sought admission in 1243. While the Epistola de tribus quaestionibus ad magistrum innominatum is a defence of the friars' conduct and policies regarding books and their work in the Parisian schools, his first letter to the order's officials on 23 April 1257 targeted abuses to be extirpated; ten specific areas of reform were identified; subsequent letters confirm that such abuses were deeply entrenched.

There are some minor blemishes in the production of such a large volume with multiple authors, such as: ‘teaching of the criptures’ (p. 169); ‘one is lead to speak’ (p. 210); ‘arguments both from cripture’ (p. 230); ‘Christ, ihe Incarnate Word’ (p. 250); ‘the lincarnate Word's role’ (p. 272); ‘demonstrated the how the early parts’ (p.283); ‘thetheologian’ (p. 368); ‘in te fullest way’ (p. 383); ‘in the hurch’ (p.505); ‘to being some logic to the’ (p. 558); and ‘were engaged in to the pastoral ministry’ (p. 567). ‘[P]erforming the sacrament’ is somewhat clumsy (p. 291). There was no general chapter in 1238 (p. 408). Split is the customary translation of Spalato (p. 405). The Rule was promulgated in 1223 and not 1224 (p. 494). Despite these typographical and other errors, the volume offers a fine and balanced exposition of the writings of one of the most accomplished theologians of the Middle Ages and it will serve as a vademecum for those engaged in the study of his theological and devotional writings.