Sentences
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (December 2013) |
 The opening of the Book of Sentences in a 14th-century manuscript (Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 170, fol. 1r) | |
| Author | Peter Lombard |
|---|---|
| Language | Latin |
| Subject | Christian theology |
| Genre | |
Publication date | c. 1150 |
| Publication place | France |
The Sentences (Sententiarum) is a compendium of Christian theology written by Peter Lombard around 1150.
Background
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The Sentences emerged from the gloss tradition, where marginalia in religious and legal texts were used to correct, explain, or interpret a text. Gradually, these annotations were compiled into separate works. The most notable precedent for Lombard's work were the Glossa Ordinaria, a 12th-century collection of glosses from the Church Fathers.[1]
Lombard went a step further, collecting texts from various sources (such as scripture, Augustine of Hippo, and other Church Fathers) and compiling them into one coherent whole.[2] In order to accomplish this, he had to address two tasks: first, that of devising an order for his material, because systematic theology had not yet been constituted as a discipline, and secondly, finding ways to reconcile doctrinal differences among his sources. Peter Abelard's Sic et Non provided crucial inspiration for the latter tasks.
Contents
[edit]Lombard arranged his material from the Bible and the Church Fathers in four books, then subdivided this material further into chapters. Probably between 1223 and 1227, Alexander of Hales grouped the many chapters of the four books into a smaller number of "distinctions". In this form, the book was widely adopted as a theological textbook in the high and late Middle Ages (the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries). A commentary on the Sentences was required of every master of theology, and was part of the examination system. At the end of lectures on Lombard's work, a student could apply for bachelor status within the theology faculty.
Legacy
[edit]The Sentences became the standard textbook of theology at medieval universities.[3] From the 1220s until the 16th century, no work of Christian literature, except for the Bible itself, was commented upon more frequently. All the major medieval thinkers in western Europe relied on it, including Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Bonaventure, Petrus Aureolus, Robert Holcot, Duns Scotus, and Gabriel Biel.[4]
Aquinas' Summa Theologiae would not eclipse the Sentences in importance until around the 16th century. Even the young Martin Luther still wrote glosses on the Sentences, and John Calvin quoted from it over 100 times in his Institutes.
Editions
[edit]- Lombardus, Petrus. Sententiae in Patrologia latina, vol. 192. Jacques Paul Migne, ed. Paris: Ateliers Catholiques, 1855.
Modern English Translation
- Lombard, Peter. The Sentences, Books 1–4. Translator, Giulio Silano. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2007–2010.
- Book 1: The Mystery of the Trinity
- Book 2: On Creation
- Book 3: On the Incarnation of the Word
- Book 4: On the Doctrine of Signs
See also
[edit]- Minuscule 714: A manuscript of the New Testament which includes a fragment of Sententiae.
References
[edit]- ^ van Geest, Paul. "Patrology/Patristics". Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online. Brill, 2018.
- ^ Bougerol, Jacques Guy. “The Church Fathers and the Sentences of Peter Lombard,” in: Irena Backus, ed., The Reception of the Church Fathers in the West – From the Carolingians to the Maurists, Vol. I. Leiden, 1997. 113–164.
- ^ Rickaby, Joseph. Scholasticism. Archibald Constable, 1908. 23.
- ^ St. Bonaventure, Commentaries on the Four Books of Sentences, Opera Omnia of St. Bonaventure, published by the Franciscan Archive, 2014, accessed 23 May 2024
Further reading
[edit]- Elizabeth Frances Rogers, Peter Lombard and the Sacramental System (Merrick, NY: Richwood Pub. Co., 1976).
- Philipp W. Rosemann, Peter Lombard (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).
- Philipp W. Rosemann, The Story of a Great Medieval Book: Peter Lombard's "Sentences" (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007).
External links
[edit]The Sentences Online:
- (in Latin) Les Sentences. Magister Sententiarum, Groupe de Recherche Pierre Lombard.
- (in Latin) Sententiae, Patrologia Latina Database.
- (in Latin) Textus Sententiarum, Patrologia Latina, 192, col. 519-964.
- (in Latin) Sententiarum. Patrologia Latina, 192.
- Complete scan of Volume 192 at Google Books.
- (in Latin) Textus Sententiarum: cum conclusionibus magistri Henrici Gorichem, 1502. Bavarian State Library.
- Digital scan of manuscript: "The Text of the Sentences: With the conclusions of the master Henry Gorich, and the concordances of the Bible and the Canons: as well as useful summaries at the beginning of the particular distinctions: carefully laid down for the first time..."
- (in Latin) Libri Quattuor Sententiarum, Bibliotheca Augustana.
- Transcription of the complete Latin text by Professor Ulrich Harsch at Fachhochschule Augsburg.
- "Peter Lombard". The Franciscan Archive.
Commentaries on The Sentences:
- (in Latin) St. Thomas Aquinas. Scriptum super Sententiis. Corpus Thomisticum, 2013.
- (in Latin) Bonaventure. Introduction to and text of Bonaventura's Commentaries on Peter Lombard's Sentences. Edward Buckner, The Logic Museum. 2006.
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