Peter Lombard

This is a short introduction to Peter Lombard's sacramental theology. The chapter discusses the Lombard's definition of sacrament and then treats penance and marriage as examples. Both of these sacraments show Peter Lombard as a transitional figure, someone whose thought wrestles with tensions between older views and the emerging scholastic sacramentology.

Freedom in the sense of free will is a multiway power to do any one of a number of things, leaving it up to us which one of a range of options by way of action we perform. What are the ethical implications of our possession of such a power? The paper examines the pre-Hobbesian scholastic view of writers such as Peter Lombard and Francisco Suarez: freedom as a multiway power is linked to the right to liberty understood as a right to exercise that power, and to liberation as a desirable goal involving the perfection of that power. Freedom as a power, liberty as a right, and liberation as a desirable goal, are all linked within this scholastic view to a distinctive theory of law as constituting, in its primary form of natural law, the normative recognition of human freedom.
Hobbes's denial of the very existence of freedom as a power led him to a radical revision both of the theory of law and of the relation of law to liberty. Law and liberty were no longer harmonious phenomena, but were left in essential conflict.
One legacy of Hobbes is the attempt to base a theory of law and liberty not on freedom as a multiway power, but on rationality. Instead of an ethics of freedom, we have an ethics of reason as involving autonomy. The paper expresses some scepticism about the prospects for such an appeal to reason as a replacement for multiway freedom.

Since the mid-90’s the figure of Peter Lombard and his Book of Sentences has regained the importance in scholarly world and been studied from both historical-theological and historical-philosophical perspectives. But some aspects of his thinking, encapsulated in the written form, which was to become the material basis for the thirteenth- through the fifteenth-century theological projects, remained somewhat insufficiently researched. Therefore this article analyzes the select parts of the Book of Sentences with the purpose of looking at how Peter Lombard handled the issue of God’s knowledge. The article shows that for Peter Lombard God’s knowledge is God’s awareness of everything knowable. It has no causal power which belongs to the divine will. Nevertheless, this knowledge is able to function in two different modes: it can be either a purely cognitive act as awareness alone, or a double cognitive and voluntary act as awareness and simultaneous volition in the form of approbation. Hence, God’s knowledge in general is not causative, but God’s knowledge of the good must be causative because he simultaneously knows and wills what is good. The article reasonably suggests that Lombard’s logic implies the compatibility of God’s (fore)knowledge and voluntary activity, on the one hand, and the contingency of the created order and the rational creatures’ free will, on the other hand. But the details of this conception remain unrevealed as Lombard’s presentation of the problem is to be declared underdeveloped.

This is an overview of the current state of research regarding Peter Lombard and the "Book of Sentences," written for the "Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques." The piece offers a treatment of Peter Lombard's life and works, of the "Book of Sentences," and of the reception of the latter in its long history of commentaries. Detailed bibliographies are included.

The global Peter Lombard research reinaugurated in 1990s has resulted in a number of recent publications, but the Master of the Sentences’ theology proper is partially underresearched. In particular, a more detailed exposition of the distinctions 35-41 of his Book of Sentences is needed in order to clarify his doctrine of God’s knowledge and its relation to the human free will. Aiming at this purpose, the article builds on the earlier established evidence that, for Peter Lombard in distinctions 35-38, God’s knowledge, in general, is not causative, although some causative power has to be ascribed to God’s knowledge of the good. The last part of distinction 38 and the content of distinction 39 further analyze the capacities and functionalities of the divine omniscience and explain how it interacts with acts of human will. The key question here deals with the problem of alternative states of affairs: whether something may be otherwise than God foreknew. As it is shown, Master Peter agrees that it is possible for created things and events to be otherwise than they are, but insists that God’s knowledge must be in any case exhaustive and infallible. He uses a number of logical tools to defend the thesis about God’s perfect knowledge and the possibility of things happening otherwise, but lacks a ​strict definition of the notion of “possibility” used here. The study concludes that in few cases Lombard’s posse could mean a potency or a simple logical possibility, or the diachronic contingency, but the overall theological statement is clear: potentially, God’s knowledge can be different or include alternative state of affairs but it cannot change. This is the teaching Lombard passed on to his readers and later commentators.

'Is Christ Head of the Church as Man?' This Licentiate Thesis addresses this apparently obscure question, a commonplace of high scholastic tracts 'De gratia capitis', first tracing its genesis in Augustine's commentaries, later biblical commentaries, and the twelfth-century schools, then considering its treatment by early-thirteenth-century scholastics, before turning to Aquinas' own treatment of the problem. Attention is paid to the development in Thomas' thought on this topic, a development which moves clearly and decisively away from what had been the majority opinion of his peers.

IN THE CONCEPTION OF PREDESTINATION that John Duns Scotus made his own one can distinguish the following theses. (1) He carries out an attempt to reconcile the immutability of God’s knowledge (including foreknowledge of future contingents) and the freedom of created intelligent subjects through the application of his conception of synchronic contingency which enables him to justify the thesis that God’s knowledge of future contingents is both eternally certain and immutable, and, at the same time, contingent, and thus it does not preclude the contingency of contingent events (including the contingent acts of created free and intelligent subjects) in the world.
This is Scotus’s way of avoiding fatalism (theological determinism). (2) The election to the select group of the saved persons is a result of grace, and thus of God’s will and His choice, it is not, in any case, a result of meritorious deeds performed by an elect person. In contrast to election, damnation of a created person is related to a cause present in that person: in condemning a human being God takes into account sin and bad use of free will on the part of a condemned subject. Scotus’s nuanced and carefully worked out conception seeks to reconcile in theory God’s justice and His mercy.
Against the background of conceptions discussed Scotus and rejected by Scotus (St. Augustine’s, Peter Lombard’s, Aquinas’s, Henry of Ghent’s) his own theory appears as moderate and comes in the middle between those which hold that there is no reason on the part of creatures either for election or damnation and those which attribute some reason for either election or damnation to created persons. (3) The most difficult problem involved in the discussion, the problem of relation obtaining between grace and freedom in procuring the act of election/damnation, Scotus solves through the introduction of categories velle, non velle, nolle applicable to analysis of actions by God’s will. God’s act of non velle (as distinct from nolle), that is His withdrawing grace from a person does not determine that person’s will to commit sinful acts, and, in particular, does not have for an effect making a man a reprobate. Thus the non-willing does not determine man to sin and ultimate damnation.

This paper helps to understand the commentary of saint Bonaventure to the Filioque topic, first explained by Pedro Lombardo. The clarity and distinction,  and the new considerations of the Bagnoreggio's doctor, promotes a new understanding of the origin of the dispute, and a possible way to resolve it. The paper ends offering a critical consideration (strong and weak points) to the position of saint Bonaventure.

This paper argues that the origin of the Seven Sacraments in Orthodoxy has been incorrectly catalogued in the past.

Secondly, the real source for adoption of said sacraments derives from lesser known Greek sources and proto-Scholastic Peter Lombard. The Seven Sacraments -I argue- have been mistakenly said to derive from Latin influence of II Lyons (1274). Not only do I debunk this myth, but show the great individuality, really idiosyncrasy, even creativity, in each famous author's adoption of the 7 sacraments in Byzantium. Furthermore, I claim to discover both Nicholas Cabasilas and Symeon of Thessalonica citing from Peter Lombard's "Sentences." If my thesis proves acceptable, it should mean that the entire narrative of the adoption and origin of a sevenfold sacramental system in Byzantium will need to be greatly revised.

NB, subsequently a colleague of mine alerted me to one error in the paper. Wherever 1260 or 12 60 synod occurs please read "so-called" for it is more probable that the so-called synod was invented with a terminus ante quem 1283

This study of Greek time before Aristotle’s philosophy starts with a commentary on his first text, the Protrepticus. We shall see two distinct forms of time emerge: one initiatory, circular and Platonic in inspiration, the other its diametrical opposite, advanced by Aristotle. We shall explore this dichotomy through a return to poetic conceptions. The Tragedians will give us an initial outline of the notion of time in the Greek world (Fate); we shall then turn to Homer in order to better grasp the complex relations between time and the religious sphere (the Hero); the work of the great theologian Hesiod will confirm this initiatory vision, later set out in remarkable fashion by Nietzsche (Myths); we shall then dive deep into Pythagoreanism to complete our account (Mysteries). Having understood this current of thought, powerfully influenced by the Iranian theogony, we shall be able to discern its clear differences from the so-called “Ionian” current, and thus to move away from Plato (Ideology). Lastly, we shall return to the early Ionian thinkers Thales and Anaximander to analyse whether this really was the vision of the world that Aristotle adopted in developing the first model of time (Science). In the second volume we shall see the return of the thought of the theologoi within the Aristotelian corpus itself, and will question our distinction between the being and existence of time.

Régis Laurent is a philosopher and member of the association Kairos Kai logos (Centre for the study of ancient philosophy). This book is the first part of his doctoral thesis in philosophy, undertaken under the aegis of three French universities (Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand and Rennes). In addition to his philosophical training, the author is also qualified to Masters level in linguistics and in general psychology, and studied theology at the Thomist University in Paris (ULSH) and at the CEJ of the EHESS.
Trad Trista SELOUS of the book of Régis LAURENT : METAPHYSIQUE DU TEMPS CHEZ ARISTOTE - I - Recherches historiques sur les conceptions mythologiques
et astronomiques précédant la philosophie aristotélicienne, villegagnons-plaisance, 2009/04/16, Paris, www.editions-villegagnons.com

Peter Lombard argued that Christ merited his own exaltation. Since all humans attain their end by merit, and since Christ was true man, it follows that Christ merited exaltation for himself. Calvin repeatedly rejects this idea, arguing that Lombard obscures the fully benevolent character of Christ's mission because he abstracts Christ's humanity from his divinity. Calvin's polemic against Lombard leverages his anti-Pelagian critique against medieval theologies of merit that reduce Christ's capacity as a representative and restrict the church's full participation in Christ's atonement. Instead, Calvin attempts to establish the substitutionary character of Christ's work by founding the merits of Christ's work on more strictly christological grounds.

The present volume attempts to prove that the presence in Niðrstigningar saga of variant readings typical of the version known as the “Troyes redaction” of the Latin Evangelium Nicodemi, which originated in twelfth-century France, indicates that the Icelandic compiler employed this version of the text rather than the more widely available version of the apocryphon in western Europe. Moreover, a closer analysis of the textual interpolations drawn from foreign sources reveals the compiler’s acquaintance with biblical glosses and commentaries produced during the second half of the twelfth century by some of the greatest exegetes of the Paris school of theology, Peter Lombard (†1160) and Peter Comestor (†1178) in particular. Taking into account these identifications, the survey then turns to the evidence of French manuscripts dating to around 1200 and containing Parisian theological and exegetical texts that might have been brought to Iceland by students studying theology in northern France or Paris. Indeed, significantly, these texts conform to the matrix of additional biblical and theological material consulted by the compiler of Niðrstigningar saga to gloss, exemplify, and augment suitable passages of his copy of the Latin Evangelium Nicodemi. Finally, it is argued that the epilogue of Niðrstigningar saga was intentionally modelled on that of the Jarteinabók Þorláks byskups in forna (“The First Miracle Collection of Bishop Þorlákr”), written after 1199 and extant in the first section of AM 645 4to, the oldest surviving manuscript containing Niðrstigningar saga, and was already in circulation before the completion of the Jarteinabók Þorláks byskups ǫnnur (“The Second Miracle Collection of Bishop Þorlákr”), completed by the year 1210. In addition, the second section of the book includes a semidiplomatic edition of the two redactions of Niðrstigningar saga, which takes into account a new stemma codicum of the surviving manuscripts. Modern English translations of the edited texts are also provided.

After a brief summary of the literature on the topic of universals in Hus’s writings, the present study continues with a summation of our knowledge of Hus’s commentaries on Aristotle, and a presentation of those of Hus’s other treatises which are the most relevant to the topic of universals. Although the topic of universals is fundamentally philosophical, a significant source for our understanding of Hus’s position is his theological works, particularly his Sentences commentary. Based on an analysis of Hus’s Super IV Sententiarum I, distinctions 19 and 33, the study shows (in the theological contexts of the divine properties and a comparison between God and a universal) that Hus was persuaded about the reality of universals understood as formal components of the essence of individual substances, which are different from these substances by means of a formal distinction. Besides providing further details on Hus’s philosophical realism, the study demonstrates that similarly to his position concerning the divine properties, which is based on Thomas Aquinas, Hus understood his realist position as the opinio media. Hus also agreed that there are many similarities between God and a universal, although, as Hus puts it, it would be devious and false if someone would want to see this likeness in all the aspects.

Since Pope Paul VI’s motu proprio Ministeria Quædam in 1972, the minor orders and the subdiaconate have disappeared from the Novus Ordo. They have not ceased to exist, however, since they are still conferred in communities that celebrate the Traditional Roman Rite. This has revived the old debate about whether or not these orders are sacramental. When reviewing the history of the orders, along with magisterial and theological documents pertaining to them, we find that they are not some merely temporary or local practice. These orders have existed in the Church since at least the patristic period and have been the subject of documents from both popes and ecumenical councils. They are at least implicitly understood to be sacramental both in the liturgy and in Canon Law, until Paul VI ordered their revisions. Saint Thomas and most Scholastic theologians affirmed sacramentality, while most modern theologians reject it. As is often the case, Saint Thomas already anticipated and refuted errors that would become popular long after his death. The traditional minor orders and the subdiaconate are degrees of the one sacrament of Holy Orders, each conferring sanctifying grace and imposing an indelible character on the soul.

This paper was delivered on March 9, 2004, at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland, as the College’s tenth Annual Aquinas Lecture. It contrasts the approaches to theology practiced by Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. The argument is essentially this: By transforming "sacra pagina" into "scientia divina," Thomas and the thirteenth century achieved genuine progress in theological thinking. This progress, however, comes at a price, which is the creation of what I call the “methodical subject.” This subject no longer sub-jects itself to the story of the Christian faith, but methodically translates this story into a rigorously articulated system: a "scientia." This subject no longer speaks the metaphorical and poetic language of Scripture, but the conceptually precise, univocal language of the Philosopher. It therefore authors texts in a completely new sense in which originality can become an accomplishment.

This article looks at the background to the Synod of Dort (1618–1619) and examines the debate there on the issue of particular redemption or definite atonement, with a specific focus on the use of the classic distinction between sufficiency and efficacy made famous by Peter Lombard’s Sentences. It also looks at the variety of Reformed responses to the Remonstrants, including those on the death of Christ that might be categorized as hypothetical universalist. It calls into question the usefulness of the terminology of “four-point Calvinists” to describe delegates such as John Davenant.

This article examines Thomas Aquinas’s critique of Peter Lombard’s controversial claim that the charity with which we love God and neighbor is the Holy Spirit himself. It discusses three interpretations of the Lombard’s position, analyses Aquinas’s objections to each of them, and presents Aquinas’s own developing view of the relation between charity and the Holy Spirit. In his Scriptum super Sententiis, Aquinas attacks the Lom- bard’s position as interpreted by the English Dominican Richard Fischacre, who tenta- tively argued that the Holy Spirit ‘co-constitutes’ human acts of charity either by means of a (quasi-)hypostatical union with the mind of the believer (i), or by means of a con- cursus simultaneus with the believer in the act of charity (ii). From the Lectura romana onwards, Aquinas is no longer concerned with Fishacre’s position. He rather reads the Lombard as maintaining that the Holy Spirit is the sole principle of the act of charity in the believer, without a mediating form or habit (iii). Aquinas maintains that the Lombard’s position is mistaken on each of these three interpretations. Instead of being the Holy Spirit himself, Aquinas argues, charity is a created habitual form in the soul of the believer, which enables the free and full participation of human beings in the divine love.

Theological heritage on the relationship between grace, Spirit, and love was developed and enriched in the medieval era by three important figures, Augustine, Peter Lombard, and William of St. Thierry. However, these theologians have slightly different accents due to contextual
issues. This essay will first show the correlation between grace, love, and the Holy Spirit in their thoughts, and then I will provide an analytical comparison regarding their similarities and differences.

Dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Studies, Specialty 09.00.14 – Theology. – National Pedagogical Dragomanov University of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. – Kyіv, 2019.

The present research examines the philosophical theology and, specifically, the theology of divine attributes of a key medieval theologian Peter Lombard in his textbook of dogmatic theology, the Book of Sentences.

(Дисертація на здобуття наукового ступеня кандидата філософських наук за спеціальністю 09.00.14 – богослов’я. – Національний педагогічний університет імені М. П. Драгоманова Міністерства освіти і науки України. – Київ, 2019.

В дослідженні вивчається філософська теологія ключового середньовічного богослова Петра Ломбардського і, специфічно, його вчення про основні атрибути Бога: божественне знання, силу та волю як вони викладені в його підручнику догматичної теології, «Книзі сентенцій». )

This is a brief study of the reception of Plato and Aristotle's teaching about first principles in the Sentences of Peter Lombard.  I speculate about Lombard's sources, analyze the judgments he makes about whether Plato and Aristotle taught the doctrine of creation, and point towards Aquinas's treatment of this issue.

The present contribution interprets the results of the statistic of explicit sources employed in the first volume of Pelbartus of Themeswar’s Rosarium. This author was a late 15th century Hungarian Observant Franciscan who wrote a number of texts that were real “bestsellers” in his time and in the century following his death. The Rosarium is his work of theoretic theology and the one closest to what might be called a medieval philosophical endeavor. By seeing who he quotes and in what way, we get to showcase his doctrinal preference for the Scotist school and, as a bonus, identify some of the works that the 15th century library of the “Saint John” Observant convent of Buda, where he worked during the last period of his life, owned.

This presentation explores Thomas Aquinas's commentaries on the Mass in the Scriptum super sententiis and the Summa theologiae. The talk was given at the Catholic Center at NYU on Dec. 3, 2016 as part of the Wisdom of Aquinas series sponsored by the Thomistic Institute.

Audio recordings of the conference presentation are available here:
Part 1: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/aquinas-on-the-rites-of-the-mass-fr-innocent-smith-op-12316-part-1
Part 2: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/aquinas-on-the-rites-of-the-mass-fr-innocent-smith-op-121316-part-2

La presente ricerca – Premio Bellarmino 2019 – si pone l’obiettivo di istruire un confronto tra le prospettive trinitarie di Bonaventura da Bagnoregio e Tommaso d’Aquino a partire dai loro Commenti alle Sentenze del maestro Pietro Lombardo. Questi testi vengono spesso relegati in secondo piano negli studi dei due autori, ma la loro analisi presenta numerosi punti di interesse: affrontano tutte le questioni teologiche fondamentali; si prestano ottimamente a essere comparati, in quanto trattano i medesimi argomenti in parallelo; mostrano uno dei vertici della profondità tecnica e teologica dei due maestri. Il confronto si concentra su due temi di primaria importanza nel contesto accademico scolastico. Il primo tema è la ragione della distinzione tra le processioni divine, che risulta la chiave di accesso per comprendere ogni distinzione in Dio Trinità. Come è possibile che due azioni immanenti in Dio siano realmente distinte? Si vedrà la proposta “qualitativa” di Bonaventura e quella “quantitativa” di Tommaso. Il secondo tema è la teologia della persona divina, che Bonaventura articola attraverso i classici concetti di proprietà, relazione, emanazione e origine, mentre Tommaso studia secondo due prospettive differenti, che abbiamo chiamato efficiente e formale. La ricerca include l’analisi di alcuni aspetti di Agostino, Boezio, Riccardo di San Vittore e Pietro Lombardo.

The aim of this thesis is to compare the Trinitarian theologies of Saint Bonaventure and Saint Thomas Aquinas with respect to the first book of their Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. The first chapter of the study includes their biographies and describes their academic studies; it also contains the main bibliography and discusses the structure of the Book of Sentences. In the second chapter, important reference authors are studied: Peter Lombard, obviously, but also Augustine, Boethius and Richard of Saint Victor. The study of the two medieval schoolmasters then begins. The third chapter deals with the concept of distinction in God, especially between the two divine processions; Generation and Spiration are really distinct, but the reasons for this distinction are characterized differently by Aquinas and Bonaventure. In the last two chapters, the theology of the divine person is studied. As for Bonaventure, the fourth chapter points out his concept of a person in the Trinity, linking the classical views of property, relation, emanation and origin together. For Aquinas, the fifth chapter describes two perspectives on the divine person. It’s proposed to recognize two viewpoints in his text: an “efficient perspective”, based on the idea of the relation of origin and a “formal perspective” that uses terms like essence, person and relation.

The traditional account of the development of theology in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is that the emerging “academic” discipline of theology was separated from the Bible and its commentary, that the two existed on parallel but separate courses, and that the one developed in a “systematic” direction whereas the other continued to exist as a separate “practical” or “biblical-moral” school. Focusing largely on texts of an allegedly “theoretical” nature, this view misunderstands or, indeed, entirely overlooks the evidence issuing from lectures on the Bible — postills, glosses, and commentaries — notably the biblical Glossa “ordinaria.” A witness to an alternative understanding, Peter Comestor, master and chancellor of the cathedral school of Paris in the second half
of the twelfth century, shows that theology was created as much from the continued study of the Bible as from any “systematic” treatise. Best known for his Historia scholastica, a combined explanation and rewrite of the Bible focusing on the historical and literal aspects of sacred history, Comestor used the Gloss as a textbook in his lectures on the
Gospels both to elucidate matters of exegesis and to help him deduce doctrinal truth. Through a close reading of Comestor’s lectures on the Gospel of John, this essay reevaluates the teaching of theology at the cathedral school of Paris in the twelfth century and argues that the Bible and its Gloss stood at the heart of this development.

In distinction 17 of Book I of the "Sentences," Peter Lombard identifies charity--the love of God and neighbor--with the Holy Spirit. This article offers an close English translation of distinction 17, together with detailed commentary. The significance of this doctrine consists in the fact that it requires a "de-centering" of the human subject as the condition of a fully lived Christian life. The human being who loves acts divinely; indeed, God acts in him. Thomas Aquinas would later reject Peter Lombard's teaching precisely because his Aristotelianism no longer allowed him to conceive the possibility of such a radically decentered human nature.

This paper takes up a disagreement between Augustine and John of Damascus on the relation of the persons of the Trinity to the divine essence. Whereas Augustine rejects speaking of God as a genus or species with the divine persons as subordinate species or individuals, Damascene uses such an analogy freely in different writings. Peter Lombard sides with Augustine but allows for Damascene’s language according to metaphor or similitude. The purpose of this paper is to utilize the trinitarian theology and metaphysical categories of Thomas Aquinas to examine the nature of the unity characteristic of universals like species and whether, in his account, one may predicate such a universal to the Godhead. To this end, the concepts of analogy, essence, person, unity, plurality, transcendental multitude, predication, genus, species, individuation, universality, particularity, communicability, and incommunicability will be examined in detail. I will argue that ultimately an analogy of genus or species cannot properly be applied to the Trinity because it contradicts the doctrine of divine simplicity. The unity of the universal insufficiently characterizes the divine unity of essence. On the other hand, Aquinas does allow for a reading of Damascene similar to that of the Lombard, to the extent that, according to our limited mode of knowledge, the relationship of individuals to a species can help us to understand the mode of communicability unique to God’s essence.

The Ab Auro Prologue of Pelbartus of Themeswar's Theological Encyclopedia. Pelbartus of Themeswar is a 15 th century observant Franciscan best known for his collections of model sermons. This article, however, treats one of the two prologues which accompany his work of systematic theology, the Aureum sacrae theologiae rosarium. The Ab auro prologue, which is discussed in detail in the present study, introduces the reader to the main intent of the work. It has a rich metaphoric style and is tacitly inspired by the "Primum principium" of William of Vaurouillon's commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard.

This is the First Edition of our Annuario Academico for 2016-17, which we are sharing on Academia.edu to solicit interest from prospective students to study with us. Note that the edition is Polyglot, but the canonical version is the English.

The ScholastIcum is an institute for the study of Scholastic Theology and Philosophy, headquartered at Rome, dedicated to the promotion of the greater appreciation and understanding of Medieval Theology and Philosophy as it was taught at the University of Paris in the mid 13th century.

For that purpose, the Scholasticum focuses its attention on three fields of study, Medieval Philosophy, Medieval Biblical Studies and Scholastic Theology, offering graduate courses of Specialization in Medieval Studies, at Rome and via video-conferencing to students throughout the world, of the following kinds:

a) Preparatory courses in Latin, Philosophy, History and Medieval Studies, aimed at orientating the students for the three principle course-work.

b) Baccalaureatus Philosophicus: 2 year Course on medieval
Philosophy focusing on the Scholastics and pre-Scholastics
authorities and texts in Philosophy.

c) Baccalaureatus Biblicus: 2 year Course on medieval scriptural studies, based on the Glossae and Commentaries of that age.

d) Baccalaureatus Sententiarius: 2 year course on the Four Books of sentences of master Peter, taking as its text books, the Commentaria of Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio on the same.

e) Magister Sacrae Doctrinae: 1-2 year specialization program for Doctoral students, seeking to fully grasp the Scholastic method of theological instruction.

In the study of which, the Institute has the following academic objectives:

a) To impart to the student an authentic historical understanding of the authors, language and methods used at the University of Paris, in the mid 13th century.

b) To educate students with profound and complete knowledge of Peter Lombard’s Four Book of Sentences, in Latin and in translation.

c) To give the student a profound and practical experience in the understanding, formulation, crafting and argumentation of the Scholastic Method, as employed by Sts. Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.

d) To form students and instructors capable of Scholastic argumentation, analysis and research.

The faculty is to comprise full and part-time positions, with a frequency of visiting professorships, to provide a wide and broad exposure to the current research on the topics
treated of in this general description of the Institute.

L’articolo intende studiare la teologia dei due nomi dello Spirito Santo, Dono e Amore, partendo dalle Sentenze di Pietro Lombardo per giungere alla proposta bonaventuriana. Il Lombardo si rivela fedele discepolo di Agostino, da cui si scosta proponendo di riconoscere, in ogni amore creato, la presenza effettiva della terza persona della Trinità. Bonaventura, alla luce di una teologia più complessa e organica, nel pieno rispetto dell’assioma sull’indivisibilità dell’azione ad extra di Dio, valorizza invece la causalità esemplare, indicandola, per alcuni aspetti, come propria della persona dello Spirito. L’esito, tuttavia, appare non componibile con altri tratti del suo pensiero teologico, dove è il Verbo la causa esemplare di tutta la creazione.

This article aims at studying the theology of the Holy Spirit considering the two personal names of Gift and Love, taking as a starting point the Sentences of Peter Lombard to subsequently arrive at the proposal of Bonaventure. Lombard reveals himself as a faithful disciple of Augustine, from whom however he takes his distance, proposing the recognition in every created love of the effective presence of the Trinity. Bonaventure on the other hand, in the light of a more complex and organic theology and in full respect of the axiom on the indivisible action of God ad extra, gives importance to the exemplary causality, indicating it, in some aspects, as belonging to the same person of the Spirit. These conclusions however do not appear in line with other traits of his theological thought, wherein the exemplary cause of the whole of creation is the Word.

Paolo Brambilla, LO SPIRITO AGISCE NELLA STORIA SECONDO LA SUA IDENTITÀ PERSONALE DI DONO E AMORE. Una lettura del Commento alle Sentenze di Bonaventura, La Scuola Cattolica 147 (2019) 229-256.

After the publication of Marcia Colish's "Peter Lombard" in 1994, studies on the author of the "Book of Sentences" have entered a new phase. This article provides an assessment of the state of research in the field and makes suggestions for its further development. In an appreciation and critique of Marcia Colish's contribution, it argues that Colish's interpretation, for all its merit, errs on a number of points: the proofs of God's existence, charity, and the structure of theological ethics are important examples. The second part of the essay considers the potential of research on the tradition of commentaries upon the "Sentences." Given the central place that this genre of theological writing occupied in Christian thought between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries, the "Sentences" commentaries could serve as a window upon the tradition. It is suggested that study of the literary form of the commentaries will shed much light on changes in the conception of theology which occurred in the period under consideration.

Il concetto di processione compare nella Scrittura e nelle prime riflessioni ecclesiali, descrivendo la vita intima di Dio. L'articolo mette a tema il problema della distinzione della generazione e della spirazione nell'assoluta e semplice unità di Dio. Se Agostino e Pietro Lombardo indicano come incomprensibile la ragione di tale distinzione, Riccardo di San Vittore e Alberto Magno propongono alcune soluzioni. La presente ricerca si concentra sulle posizioni teologiche di Bonaventura e Tommaso d'Aquino, provando ad evidenziare, a partire dalle ragioni di questa distinzione, alcuni tratti della loro teologia.

The concept of Procession appears in the Scriptures and in early ecclesial reflections , and describes the intimate life of God. This article examines the problem of the distinction between generation and spiration in the absolute and simple unity of God. If Augustine and Peter Lombard indicate the reason for such a distinction as being incomprehensible, Richard of Saint Victor and Albert the Great put forward some solutions. This present research concentrates on the theological positions of Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas, attempting to highlight some traits of their theology, beginning with the reasons for this distinction.

Paolo Brambilla, LA DISTINZIONE DELLE PROCESSIONI DIVINE IN BONAVENTURA E TOMMASO, La Scuola Cattolica 146 (2018) 535-564.

A translation of St. Bonaventure's questions on the Eucharist from book 4 of his commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences. A lengthy introduction situations the text in teh context of the development of Eucharistic doctrine and considers some of the more substantive theological issues raised by Bonaventure's discussion. Also includes extensive scholarly footnotes and facing page Latin text.

The table of contents is here for download. The book will be published in 2017.

This study seeks to clarify the basic options available to mediaeval theologians in the second half of the XIIIth century when reflecting on the Father’s innascilibility, in connection with His paternity. The mediaeval typology of innascibility is principally based on Hilary of Poitiers and Augustine. Its deployment and development can be traced by following a number of different stages in Peter Lombard, William of Auxerre and Alexander of Hales. A typology thus elaborated puts one in a better position for locating the difference between Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas on how best to approach the person of the Father.