Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 16:2 (Fall 2019)
Article: The Holy Spirit's Work According To Peter The Lombard's "Four Books Of Sentences"
Author: Thomas P. Johnston

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JBTM 16:2 (Fall 2019) p. 2

The Holy Spirit's Work According To Peter The Lombard's Four Books Of Sentences

Thomas P. Johnston

Thomas P. Johnston is professor of evangelism at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. [email protected]

Note: A version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Denver, Colorado, on November 13, 2018.

Beginning with Anselm of Laon (c. 1050–1117), European schoolmasters began to glean through and gather the sayings of earlier theologians into Sentences. These Sentences included glosses on Scripture often from the context of rhetorical prose against one heresy or another. The Sentences became class notes in the new field of “theology,” as schoolmasters taught their students the sacred arts, leveraging the doctrine of God to frame their views. The era of the Sentences lasted approximately one hundred years. Of all the gatherings of the sentences, the Four Books of Sentences of Peter Lombard (1096–1160) achieved the pinnacle of success. His Four Books framed western church theology, leaving an imprint that formalized elements of Roman Catholic doctrine to this day. In response to the issues of his day, Lombard created a non-Evangelical theological basis, much to the detriment of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Lombard’s Four Books of Sentences inaugurated a new age in academia. First, after his death in 1160, Lombard’s Sentences framed topics for the new science of systematic theology. Second, his Sentences replaced the direct study of Scripture for doctrinal formation. Third, the Four Books of Sentences formalized Catholicism’s sacramental soteriology. Fourth, use of Lombard’s Sentences spread concurrently to the formation of universities in western Europe.1 In the thirteenth century, Lombard’s Sentences became the doctrinal gathering place for minds in every western university. Not only were his sentences pondered, but schoolmen had to write a commentary on Lombard’s Sentences in order to receive a teaching position. Hence, Martin Luther (1483–1546) wrote his commentary in 1508—350 years after Lombard authored them.2 Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) wrote his commentary on Lombard’s

JBTM 16:2 (Fall 2019) p. 3

Sentences in 1252–1254. Bonaventura (1221–1274), perhaps the most famous commentators on Lombard, wrote his commentary in 1250–1252. Virtually every schoolmaster had to write a commentary on the Four Books of Sentences in order to achieve the degree of master; the...

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