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The Four Books of Sentences (Libri Quattuor Sententiarum) is a compendium of theology written by Peter Lombard around 1150.
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The Book of Sentences had its precursor in the glosses (an explanation or interpretation of a text, such as, e.g. the Corpus Iuris Civilis or biblical) by the masters who lectured using Saint Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate). A gloss might concern syntax or grammar, or it might be on some difficult point of doctrine. These glosses, however, were not continuous, rather being placed between the lines or in the margins of the biblical text itself. 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. 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.
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.
The importance of the Sentences to medieval theology and philosophy lies to a significant extent in the overall framework they provide to theological and philosophical discussion. All the great scholastic thinkers, such as Aquinas, William of Ockham, Bonaventure, Petrus Aureolus, Robert Holcot, and Duns Scotus, wrote commentaries on the Sentences. But these works were not exactly commentaries, for the Sentences was really a compilation of sources, and Lombard left many questions open, giving later scholars an opportunity to provide their own answers.
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Alexander of Hales, also called Doctor Irrefragibilis and Theologorum Monarcha, was a Franciscan friar, theologian and philosopher important in the development of scholasticism.
Anselm of Laon, properly Ansel, was a French theologian and founder of a school of scholars who helped to pioneer biblical hermeneutics.
Peter Lombard was an Italian scholastic theologian, Bishop of Paris, and author of Four Books of Sentences which became the standard textbook of theology, for which he earned the accolade Magister Sententiarum.
Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topics or what is true about God and his universe. It also builds on biblical disciplines, church history, as well as biblical and historical theology. Systematic theology shares its systematic tasks with other disciplines such as constructive theology, dogmatics, ethics, apologetics, and philosophy of religion.
Wycliffe's Bible or Wycliffite Bibles or Wycliffian Bibles (WYC) are names given for a sequence of Middle English Bible translations believed to have been made under the direction or instigation of English theologian John Wycliffe of the University of Oxford. They are the earliest known literal translations of the entire Bible into English. They appeared over a period from approximately 1382 to 1395.
Ad fontes is a Latin expression which means "[back] to the sources". The phrase epitomizes the renewed study of Greek and Latin classics in Renaissance humanism, subsequently extended to Biblical texts. The idea in both cases was that sound knowledge depends on the earliest and most fundamental sources.
John Baconthorpe, OCarm was a learned English Carmelite friar and scholastic philosopher.
Hugh of Saint-Cher, O.P. was a French Dominican friar who became a cardinal and noted biblical commentator.
Richard of Middleton was a member of the Franciscan Order, a theologian, and scholastic philosopher.
Summa and its diminutive summula was a medieval didactics literary genre written in Latin, born during the 12th century, and popularized in 13th century Europe. In its simplest sense, they might be considered texts that 'sum up' knowledge in a field, such as the compendiums of theology, philosophy and canon law. Their function during the Middle Ages was largely as manuals or handbooks of necessary knowledge used by individuals who would not advance their studies any further.
Petrus Comestor, also called Pierre le Mangeur, was a twelfth-century French theological writer and university teacher.
Sententiae, the nominative plural of the Latin word sententia, are brief moral sayings, such as proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, or apophthegms taken from ancient or popular or other sources, often quoted without context. Sententia, the nominative singular, also called a "sentence", is a kind of rhetorical proof. Through the invocation of a proverb, quotation, or witty turn of phrase during a presentation or conversation one may be able to gain the assent of the listener, who will hear a kind of non-logical, but agreed-upon truth in what one is saying. An example of this is the phrase "age is better with wine" playing off of the adage "wine is better with age". The same saying is present in Luke 5,39.
Nicholas of Gorran (1232–1295) was born in Gorron, France. He was a prominent French Roman Catholic medieval preacher and scriptural commentator.
Peter of Poitiers was a French scholastic theologian, born in Poitiers around 1125-1130. He died in Paris on September 3, 1205.
Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations is a book series founded at the University of Dallas and currently co-sponsored by the University of Dallas and Maynooth University in Ireland. The series is published by Peeters, a publishing house based in Leuven, Belgium. Modeled upon the Loeb Classical Library, the Dallas series has the goal "to build a library of medieval Latin texts, with English translations, from the period roughly between 500 and 1500, that will represent the whole breadth and variety of medieval civilization." The editorial board of the series is composed of several medievalists from the University of Dallas and Southern Methodist University; Kelly Gibson of the University of Dallas and Philipp W. Rosemann from Maynooth serve as co-editors. Members of an international board of editorial advisers review manuscripts submitted to the series to ensure their quality.
Catholic dogmatic theology can be defined as "a special branch of theology, the object of which is to present a scientific and connected view of the accepted doctrines of the Christian faith."
John Duns Scotus was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is one of the four most important Christian philosopher-theologians of Western Europe in the High Middle Ages, together with Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure and William of Ockham.
The Llibre dels àngels is a literary work that was written by Francesc Eiximenis in 1392 in Valencia in Catalan. It was dedicated to Pere d'Artés, who was a kind of Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Crown of Aragon, and who was a close friend of him. It has two hundred and one chapters, and it is divided into five treatises.
The Collectanea, or Magna glossatura as it came to be known, is a collection of commentaries on the Psalms and the Pauline Epistles written by Peter the Lombard between 1139 and 1141.
Philipp W. Rosemann is a German philosopher and Cottrill-Rolfes Chair at University of Kentucky. Previously he was Professor of Philosophy at Maynooth University. He is the co-editor of Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations. Prior to his tenure at Maynooth, he taught at the University of Dallas for twenty years.
