So welcome to the second to Mystic Institute talk at the University of York, and thank you very much for coming.

We're going to be hearing a talk from Rick Van Nevenhoove tonight on the theology of the blessed Jan van Rusebrook, medieval Flemish mystical theologian who lived in the 14th century.

I assume I have a mixed audience in the sense that some of you will know the theology of the

Trinity very well and some others may not.

So to try and negotiate that, I have in the handout included, for starters, a short extract from the creed of Constantinople

which all major Christian denominations professed to this day

in order to explain where is Brooksbruck's theology ultimately comes from.

Now in the medieval period, the traditional traditional theology of the fathers

was appropriated by a number of medieval theologians in different ways, including Bonaventure.

And I think Bonaventure influenced Rusbrook so in order to explain

before I get into the heart of the paper in order to explain the Ruth's original

contribution first want to say a few words about the mystical theology of the St Bonaventure

according to St Bonaventure. According to Saint Bonaventure, God is love, and love wants to share itself.

So it's typical of the nature of love to be outgoing to share itself.

So the divine nature being love is therefore fruitful, and therefore the father generates

his word, God, from God, light and might as a tree has it.

And then from the mutual contemplation, and again, this is development from Augustine

actually, by Bonaventure, from the mutual contemplation of the father and his word.

I think of the prologue John, in the beginning of the first word, so you have a sort of intellectual movement from the father to the son.

And from the mutual contemplation, then, the Holy Spirit proceeds as love.

That's basically Bonaventure's vision.

And he understands the whole process of creation in terms of generation of the world,

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