Editing Sentences (section)

==Legacy==
In 1170, [[Pope Alexander III]] instructed [[William of the White Hands|William of Champagne]] to "convoke your [[Suffragan bishop|suffragans]] at Paris" and renounce the "vicious doctrine" (''pravae doctrinae'') of Peter Lombard.<ref name=A3>''[https://archive.org/details/enchiridionsymbo0000unse_v3b7/page/239/mode/1up Enchiridion symbolorum definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum]''. Ed. Heinrich Denzinger and Adolf Schönmetzer, S.J., 34th ed. Barcelona: Herder, 1967. no. 749–50. p. 239.</ref> The Pope was accusing Lombard of espousing Christological Nihilianism: the idea that Christ's [[Docetism|human nature was nothing]] and his sole identity was divine.<ref>"Nihilianism", ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. [[Oxford University Press]], 2006.</ref> The concerns centered on Book III of the ''Sentences'' where Peter Lombard discusses the [[hypostatic union]] from a variety of angles. The debate lingered long enough that the Pope reiterated his concerns in a second letter to William seven years later.<ref name=A3/> The Pope's position was not universally supported among the [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinals]] who felt the Church faced more pressing issues.<ref>Nielsen, Lauge Olaf. ''Theology and Philosophy in the Twelfth Century''. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. 1982. 359–60.</ref>

After the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]] in 1215, the ''Sentences'' became the standard [[textbook]] of theology at [[Middle Ages|medieval]] universities.<ref>[[Joseph Rickaby|Rickaby, Joseph]]. ''[https://archive.org/details/Scholasticism/page/n39/mode/1up Scholasticism]''. [[Constable & Robinson|Archibald Constable]], 1908. 23.</ref><ref name=PR>Rosemann, Philipp W. ''Peter Lombard''. Great Medieval Thinkers. Edited by [[Brian Davies (philosopher)|Brian Davies]]. [[Oxford University Press]], 2004.</ref>{{rp|ix}} [[Stephen Langton]]'s commentary on the ''Sentences'' helped establish the form.<ref>Landgraf, Artur. "[https://archive.org/details/sim_american-catholic-philosophical-quarterly_the-new-scholasticism_1939-04_13_2/page/126/mode/1up The First Sentence Commentary of Early Scholasticism]," ''The New Scholasticism'' 13. 1939. 126–7.</ref> Until the 16th century, no work of Christian literature, except for the [[Bible]] itself, was commented upon more frequently. All the major medieval thinkers in western Europe relied on it, including [[Albert the Great]], [[Alexander of Hales]], [[Thomas Aquinas]], [[Bonaventure]], [[Marsilius of Inghen]], [[William of Ockham]], [[Petrus Aureolus]], [[Robert Holcot]], [[John Duns Scotus|Duns Scotus]], and [[Gabriel Biel]].

Aquinas' ''[[Summa Theologica|Summa Theologiae]]'' would not eclipse the ''Sentences'' in importance until around the 16th century. Even the young [[Martin Luther]] still wrote glosses on the ''Sentences'', and [[John Calvin]] quoted from it over 100 times in his ''[[Institutes of the Christian Religion|Institutes]]''.

[[David Luscombe]] called the ''Sentences'' "the least read of the world's great books".<ref>Luscombe, David Edward. ''[https://archive.org/details/schoolofpeterabe0000lusc/page/262/mode/1up The School of Peter Abelard: The Influence of Abelard's Thought in the Early Scholastic Period]''. [[Cambridge University Press]], 1969. 262.</ref> In 1947, Friedrich Stegmüller compiled a 2-volume bibliography of commentaries on the ''Sentences''.<ref>Stegmüller, Friedrich. ''Repertorium commentariorum in Sententias Petri Lombardi''. 2 vols. Würzburg: F. Schöningh, 1947.</ref> By 2001, the tally of Lombard commentators ran to 1,600 authors.<ref>Livesey, Steven J. "Lombardus Electronicus: A Biographical Database of Medieval Commentators on Peter Lombard’s Sentences". in ''Mediaeval Commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, Volume 1''. Editor G.R. Evans. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002. 5.</ref>