The Sentences: Book 4: On the Doctrine of Signs [Paperback]

At last Peter Lombard, The Sentences is available to us in English, for those of us who cannot read Latin. Thank you for your labour of love Giulio Silano! Book One was a delightful read. Lombard's knowledge of church fathers, established orthodox theology and skilled commentary make Book One of the Sentences priceless. With Lombard, the reader soon accepts that the subject matter of the Divine Trinity is inexhaustible and will never be fully known by man. The pursuit of God however is the most fruitful enterprise that man can pursue. The Sentences is meant to be a theology textbook for all seminary students and was such throughout the Middle Ages. Alas today it is mostly ignored.

I do not think that I can overstate the point; any seminary that does not require full reading of the Sentences is doing the laity a disservice. Outside of the Bible I am not aware of a more worthwhile read than the Sentences. It is inexplicable to me why they have been entirely ignored in the modern era. The age of Laodicea might have something to do with it. To both Protestant and Catholic Book One of the Sentences should be completely accepted.

I would like to quote a few favourite excerpts.

1. Quoting Augustine Lombard writes, "How great a God is he who gives God [Holy Spirit]?"

2. The fact that El, which means God, is not used and Elohim, which can be translated as gods or judges, is used instead, is related to the plurality of persons. - It pertains to the same point that the devil said through the serpent: You shall be like gods, for which the Hebrew Elohim is used, as if to say: You shall be like divine persons.

3. In order that this may be taught more intelligently and perceived more fully, a certain premise must be made which is very necessary to this end. It has been said above, and it has been shown by sacred authorities, that the Holy Spirit is the love of the Father and the Son by which they love each other and us. It must be added to this that the very same Holy Spirit is the love or charity by which we love God and neighbour. When this charity is in us, so that it makes us love God and neighbour, then the Holy Spirit is said to be sent or given to us; and whoever loves the very love by which he loves his neighbour, in that very thing loves God, because that very love is God, that is, the Holy Spirit.

I strongly recommend reading the Sentences. You will not go unchanged.

Summary: Peter Lombard (1100-1160) or the Master of the Sentences wrote the basic theological compendium for the Middle Ages. He was student of Abelard (1079-1142/3)--the founder of understanding seeking faith. His essential task was to harmonize the church authorities--the fathers and the Bible--with each other over and against heterodoxy.

Silano, the translator, argues that The Sentences need to be read as a theological "casebook." The Sentences are a review of past theological debates for the purpose of assisting priests, canon lawyers, and theologians in developing current applications and to maintain orthodoxy. They are then organized into lecture notes.

In The Mystery of the Trinity, the first book of four, Peter Lombard presents a clear defense and review of the early church's position on the Trinity. He generally follows Augustine on the issue of God's grace, predestination, and foreknowledge in salvation and within the being of God.

Exemplar quotes:
And so the property by which the Father is Father is that he always begot; and this same property is called fatherhood or generation. And the property by which the Son is always the Son is that he is always begotten by the Father; and this same property is called sonship, or geniture, or birth, or origin, or ability to be born. Similarly, the property by which the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit or Gift is that he proceeds from both; and this property is called procession (147).
Augustine, Against Julian: "He has mercy according to freely given grace, but he hardens according to judgment which is rendered for merits." "And so it is given to be understood that, as God's reprobation is to not will mercy, so for God to make obdurate is not to have mercy; not that anything is inflicted by him which man is made worse, but only that is not granted by which he may become better" (224).

Benefits/Detriments: A very dense but clear defense and explanation of the doctrine of the Trinity. Peter Lombard gathers together the best of Augustine's work and the other church fathers. I am fully convinced by his arguments on the Trinity about the importance of maintaining the language and distinctions of begotten, and procession (contra Grudem).

Peter Lombard seems to be making room for declining from Augustine's view of salvation, but he does not take this step in his material about God.

There were concepts that are never dealt with in basic theology courses and it was very thought provoking to study.