Front matter

GREAT MEDIEVAL THINKERS Peter Lombard

PHILIPP W.

ROSEMANN

PETER LOMBARD

GREAT MEDIEVAL THINKERS

Series Editor Brian Davies Blackfriars, University of Oxford, and Fordham University

DUNS SCOTUS

Richard Cross

BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

Gillian R. Evans

JOHN SCOTTUS ERIUGENA

Deirdre Carabine

ROBERT GROSSETESTE

James McEvoy BOETHIUS John Marenbon

PETER LOMBARD

Philipp W. Rosemann

BARD Philipp W. Rosemann OXPORD

UNIVERSITY PRESS

OXTORD

UNIVERSITY PRESS

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rosemann, Philipp.

Peter Lombard / Philipp W. Rosemann. p. cm.—(Great medieval thinkers) Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-19-515544-0; 0-19-515545-9 (pbk.) 1. Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, ca. 1100—1160. 2. Peter Lombard,

Bishop of Paris,, ca. 1100—1160. Sententiarum libri IV. 3. Theology, Doctrinal—History—Middle Ages, 600-1500. I. Title. II. Series.

BX1749.P4 R67 2003

230'.2*092—dc2i 2003005370 1 3 5 7 9 ^ 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

One should not accept too lazily, right inside [the sphere of] theological speculation, a certain schema of progress that all of the forces of the century contributed yesterday to impose upon us (and it is not certain, some appearances notwithstanding, that they do not continue doing so today). In reacting against the "modern" selfimportance which makes our contemporaries believe that they have more wits than their fathers, for the sole reason that they were born after them, we believe that we are returning to a more traditional assessment, from which not only the patristic era and the high Middle Ages, but the following centuries as well, must benefit.

—Henri de Lubac, S.J., Corpus mysticum

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Many people would be surprised to be told that there were any great medieval thinkers. If a great thinker is one from whom we can learn today, and if "medieval" serves as an adjective for describing anything that existed from (roughly) the years 600 to 1500 a.d., then, so it is often supposed, medieval thinkers cannot be called "great."

Why not? One answer often given appeals to the ways in which me dieval authors with a taste for argument and speculation tend to invoke authorities, especially religious ones. Such invocation of authority is not the stuff of which great thought is made—so it is often said today. It is also frequently said that greatness is not to be found in the thinking of those who lived before the rise of modern science, not to mention that of modern philosophy and theology. Today's students of science are hardly ever referred to literature earlier than the seventeenth century.

Modern students of philosophy are often taught nothing about the history of ideas between Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) and Descartes (1596-1650). Mod ern students of theology are often encouraged to believe that sound the ological thinking is a product of the nineteenth century.

Yet the origins of modern science lie in the conviction that the world is open to rational investigation and is orderly rather than chaotic—a conviction that came fully to birth, and was systematically explored and developed, during the Middle Ages. And it is in medieval thinking that

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we find some of the most sophisticated and rigorous discussions in the areas of philosophy and theology ever offered for human consumption not surprising, perhaps, if we note that medieval philosophers and the ologians, like their contemporary counterparts, were mostly university teachers who participated in an ongoing, worldwide debate, part of a large community of teachers and students with whom they were regularly involved, and were not (like many seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and even nineteenth-century philosophers and theologians) people working in rel ative isolation. As for the question of appeal to authority: it is certainly true that many medieval thinkers believed in authority (especially reli gious authority) as a serious court of appeal, and it is true that most people today would say that they cannot do this. But as many contem porary philosophers are increasingly reminding us, authority is as much an ingredient in our thinking as it was for medieval thinkers (albeit that, because of differences between thinkers, one might reasonably say that there is no such thing as "medieval thought"), for most of what we take ourselves to know derives from the trust we have placed in our various teachers, colleagues, friends, and general contacts. When it comes to re liance on authority, the main difference between us and medieval thinkers lies in the fact that their reliance on authority (insofar as they had it) was often more focused and explicitly acknowledged than it is for us. It does not lie in the fact that it was uncritical and naive in a way that our reliance on authority is not.

In recent years, such truths have come to be increasingly recognized at what we might call the academic level. No longer disposed to think of the Middle Ages as "dark" (meaning "lacking in intellectual richness"), many university departments and many publishers of books and journals now devote a lot of energy to the study of medieval thinking. And they do so, not simply on the assumption that it is historically important, but also in the light of the increasingly developing insight that it is full of things with which to dialogue and from which to learn. Following a long period in which medieval thinking was thought to be of only antiquarian interest, we are now witnessing its revival as a contemporary voice—one to converse with, one from which we might learn.

The Great Medieval Thinkers series reflects and is part of this exciting revival. Written by distinguished experts, these volumes aim to provide substantial introductions to a range of medieval authors, who are as worth reading today as they were when they wrote. Students of medieval

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IX literature (for example, the writings of Chaucer) are currently well sup plied (if not oversupplied) with secondary works to aid them when read ing the objects of their concern. But those with an interest in medieval philosophy and theology are by no means so fortunate when it comes to reliable and accessible volumes to help them. The Great Medieval Think ers series therefore aspires to remedy that deficiency by concentrating on medieval philosophers and theologians and by offering solid overviews of their lives and thought coupled with contemporary reflection on what they had to say. Each entry in the series will provide a valuable treatment of a single thinker. Taken together, the series will constitute a rich and distinguished history and discussion of medieval philosophy and theology.

With one eye on college and university students and the other eye on the general reader, the authors in the series will clearly and accessibly present each thinker's perspective for those unfamiliar with the concepts.

But each contributor to the series also intends to inform, engage, and generally entertain even those with specialist knowledge in the area of medieval thinking. So, as well as surveying and introducing, the volumes in the senes seek to advance the state of medieval studies both at the historical and the speculative level.

Since few of his writings have been translated, Peter Lombard has not been much studied for a very long time except by those with serious, professional interests in medieval scholarship. Yet he had a major intel lectual influence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. His bestknown work, the Sententiae in IV libris distinctae (commonly known as the Sentences), became the standard textbook for students and teachers of theology in the years following the Fourth Lateran Council (1215)- Me dieval theologians were routinely required to lecture on it, and some of the greatest of them wrote commentaries on it. Hence, for example, we have commentaries on the Sentences from Alexander of Hales (c. 1186—

1245), St. Bonaventure (c. 1217—1274), St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274), Duns Scotus (c. 126^1308), William of Ockham (c. 1285-1347), and Mar tin Luther (1483-1546). Anyone who wants to understand what medieval theology was all about certainly needs to know about Peter Lombard.

Despite this long history of study, the verdicts on whether he was a great medieval thinker have differed, as Philipp Rosemann makes clear in what follows. As Rosemann also explains, however, Peter Lombard is more than the sum of his commentators. He was an original thinker. His historical significance is unquestionable. But, as Rosemann skillfully in-

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dicates, Lombard is of more than merely historical interest. All contem porary students and teachers of medieval thinking know of Lombard by name, although few of them could explain what he actually said and why it might matter. In this book, however, they will find expert help as they seek to put a mind to a name. In it they will find an ideal introduction to a currently neglected but very significant figure.

Brian Davies

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My principal debt in composing this book is to the University of Dallas, where I have over the past six years taught courses in medieval philos ophy, Scholastic tradition, and related topics. For the fall of 2001, the university reduced my teaching load to one course, allowing me to begin preparations for this book.

The William A. Blakley Library of the University of Dallas houses extensive collections in the fields of medieval philosophy and theology, collections without which my work on Peter Lombard would not have been possible. I am grateful for the excellent collaboration with a team of dedicated librarians. Ms. Alice Puro, head of interlibrary loans, has been diligent and efficient in obtaining literature that was unavailable in the university's own library.

I have received much encouragement from Professor James McEvoy of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, who generously agreed to read my chapters and has offered many suggestions for improvements.

Some of these suggestions have saved me from mistakes. Such errors as remain are, of course, my sole responsibility. Professor Bruce C. Brasington (West Texas A&M University), Madame Caroline Heid (Institut de

Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, Paris), Professor Constant J. Mews (Monash University, Melbourne), and my colleague at the University of Dallas Professor Francis R. Swietek have provided helpful advice on

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

particular aspects of the project. I am grateful as well to Monsieur Pascal Jacquinot of the Mediatheque de l'agglomeration troyenne (Troyes,

France) for making available a digital file of the illustration used in the frontispiece. Boydell Publishers of Woodbridge, Suffolk (England), have granted me permission to reproduce some drawings from Christopher de Hamel's work, Glossed Boohs of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris

Booktrade.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge Professor Brian Davies, O.P., who com missioned me to write this volume for the series he edits.

CONTENTS Abbreviations xv Introduction A Great Medieval Thinker? 3

1. From Story to System 8 2. Peter Lombard: Life and Works 34 3. The Boo\ of Sentences: Structure, Method, and Theological Vision 54 4. The Sentences, Book I: On the Mystery of the Trinity 71 3. The Sentences, Book II: On the Creation of Things, and the Formation of Spiritual and Corporeal

Entities, and Many Other Matters Pertaining to These 93 6. The Sentences, Book III: On the Incarnation of the Word 118 7. The Sentences, Book IV, Distinctions 1-42: On the Doctrine of Signs 144

XIV CONTENTS 8. The Sentences, Book IV, Distinctions 43-50:

On the Resurrection and the Circumstances of Judgment 179 Conclusion The Significance and Tradition of the Sentences 194 Notes 213 Select Bibliography 253 Scripture References 259 Name Index 263 Subject Index 269

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