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Theologian · Medieval

Peter Lombard

c. 1096–1160 · Early scholasticism

Catholic Latin

Bishop of Paris; Master of the Sentences. His Trinitarian doctrine was vindicated against Joachim at Lateran IV (1215).

Peter Lombard's Four Books of Sentences gathered the teaching of Scripture and the Fathers on God, creation, Christ and the sacraments into one ordered textbook. It became the set text of every medieval theology faculty, commented on by Thomas, Bonaventure, Scotus, Ockham and Luther, and it fixed the number of the sacraments at seven.

Why he matters: He gave scholastic theology its syllabus. Lateran IV defended his Trinitarian theology by name, and his sacramental definitions passed into the Church's teaching.

Where to be careful

A few of his opinions were later abandoned by the schools (his “Christological nihilism” and his identification of charity with the Holy Spirit), none of them censured in his lifetime.

Reading

  • The Sentences, Book IV: On the Doctrine of Signs
    Peter Lombard (trans. Giulio Silano) · The sacramental book, the most influential of the four.
    Journal
  • Peter Lombard
    Philipp W. Rosemann · A concise introduction (Great Medieval Thinkers).
    Journal
  • The Sentences, Book I: The Mystery of the Trinity
    Peter Lombard (trans. Giulio Silano) · The Trinitarian doctrine Lateran IV defended.
    Journal

Documented positions

Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.

Settled teaching Its center Open question Beyond teaching, not condemned Condemned error
I

God and Being · What is, and whence it is.

Can reason know that God exists? Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism Natural theology
How is God related to the world? Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose? Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism Providence and final causes
Do natures and essences really exist? Realism
Nominalism Realism
God's essence and His energies Absolute simplicity
Essence–energies distinction Absolute simplicity
How should we speak of God? Between
Apophatic (negative) way Cataphatic (analogical) way
Is 'being' said of God and of creatures in the same sense? Analogy of being
Analogy of being Univocity of being
How does creation speak of God? A book of signs and vestiges
Natures studied in their own right A book of signs and vestiges
II

Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.

Faith and reason: who has the last word? Between
Rationalism Fideism
Where does knowledge begin? Between
Senses and abstraction Illumination and innate ideas
Is truth objective? Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism Objective truth
Who interprets revelation? Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment Living Tradition and Magisterium
How should Scripture be read? Fundamentalist literalism
Critical reductionism Fundamentalist literalism
What is theology for? A science ordered to knowing
A science ordered to knowing A wisdom ordered to loving
Does doctrine develop? Between
Always the same, in the same words A living development
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift? A gift to be baptized
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem A gift to be baptized
III

The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.

Is there a spiritual soul? Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain Immortal spiritual soul
Is the body really you? Body–soul unity
Dualism Body–soul unity
Are you free? Free will
Determinism Free will
How fallen is human nature? Totally depraved
Totally depraved Basically good
Does nature desire God? Natural desire for the vision of God
Pure nature Natural desire for the vision of God
The body and its desires Contempt for the flesh
Contempt for the flesh Desire as its own law
Person and community Between
Individualism Collectivism
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace Defined by consent and identity
What makes you this one and no other? This matter, this body
This matter, this body A positive thisness (haecceity)
What is suffering for? A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved A share in the Cross
IV

The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.

Is morality objective and knowable? Natural law
Relativism Natural law
Why is the good good? Eternal law (intellectualism)
Divine command (voluntarism) Eternal law (intellectualism)
Are some acts always wrong? Intrinsically evil acts
Consequentialism Intrinsically evil acts
Rules or character? Morality of virtue and beatitude
Morality of obligation Morality of virtue and beatitude
What is conscience? Conscience bound to truth
Autonomous conscience Conscience bound to truth
In doubtful cases Rigorism
Rigorism Laxism
What is happiness? Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing Beatitude in God
What is heaven's happiness, at its heart? Between
The intellect's vision of God The will's love and enjoyment of God
V

Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.

How does grace move the will? Between
Thomist (Bañezian) Molinist
How are we made right with God? Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation Infused, transforming grace
Who can be saved? Strict exclusivism
Strict exclusivism Indifferentism
What is salvation for? Deification
Pardon and escape Deification
Hell and hope The many are lost
The many are lost All will be saved
Would the Word have become flesh had Adam not sinned? Christ came to redeem sinners
Christ came to redeem sinners Christ was willed first (absolute primacy)
Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity? The eternal Word made flesh
The eternal Word made flesh The man Jesus of Nazareth
VI

Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.

Church and state Social kingship of Christ
Laicism Social kingship of Christ
Where does authority come from? Authority from God
Social contract Authority from God
The nation and the Church Nation does not matter
Nation or race first Nation does not matter
May the state restrain false religion? The confessional state: error has no rights
The confessional state: error has no rights Civil liberty for every religion
Which form of government best suits a Christian people? Monarchy and hierarchy
Monarchy and hierarchy Democracy and participation
May a Christian take up the sword? Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
VII

Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.

Liturgical development Receive and develop organically
Reconstruct and innovate Receive and develop organically
Icons and images Veneration of images
Iconoclasm Veneration of images
The way of prayer Discursive meditation
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer Discursive meditation
The procession of the Holy Spirit From the Father and the Son (Filioque)
From the Father through the Son From the Father and the Son (Filioque)
The office of Peter Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do? Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only Efficacious ex opere operato
Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters? Between
One form everywhere The Gospel in each people's own forms
What are the Eastern Catholic Churches? Rites of the one Roman Church
Rites of the one Roman Church Sister Churches with their own rights and theology
Contemplation or action? Between
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy Contemplation: the one thing needful

A profile of your philosophical and theological leanings, measured against the settled teaching of the Catholic Church, East and West. It is a tool for examination and reading, not an instrument of judgment.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.