[Book Review] Philip W. Rosemann reviews S.J. McGrath. The Early Heidegger and Medieval Philosophy. Phenomenology for the Godforsaken . Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2006.

This concluding chapter provides an overview on the work of great theologians who commented upon the Book of Sentences. Indeed, it elaborates upon Peter Lombard's heritage by attempting to present a broad sketch of the history of the Sentences commentaries in the Middle Ages and beyond. There is no denying that there are loose ends, gaps, and even inconsistencies in Peter Lombard's account of the Christian faith. Most patently perhaps, Peter fails to develop a coherent theory of the central mystery (...) of Christianity—the Incarnation. It highlights some of the most notable inconsistencies in connection with its understanding of grace. Indeed, some of the inconsistencies of the Book of Sentences may hold out the chance for us to rethink our own answers to some of the great questions of life. The little research that exists on the Sentences literature of the 15th century indicates a fascinating reversal of this trend. (shrink)

Religious texts seem to share a significant characteristic. They possess a narrative structure, as opposed to presenting a rational argument. This chapter analyzes how traditions develop around texts that have acquired such authoritative status as to become foundational. The New Testament, while fundamentally narrative in structure, encourages theological reflection, and that means, in other words, the penetration of the faith by means of reason. The chapter gives an overview of the theological debates and reflections of Latin Fathers, Church Fathers, and (...) other religious thinkers in Christian history. The century in which Peter Lombard was born and wrote his theology has become a subject largely taught by masters in their own schools. It has been reasoned that Peter Lombard created a system that would render the faith as intelligible as humanly possible through comprehensive coverage of all its major themes in a methodical order and the application of dialectical procedures to several layers of authoritative texts. (shrink)

The chapter begins with a discussion on the place of medieval Christian thinker Peter Lombard in the intellectual history of Christianity. Lombard was born between 1095 and 1100 in the region of Novara in Lombardy and died in 1160 as a bishop of Paris. He was the author of a celebrated work entitled the Book of Sentences. This work severed for many centuries as the standard theological textbook in the Christian West. It was later replaced in the 16th century by (...) Thomas Aquinasɧs Summa theologiae. The chapter also highlights Lombard's organization of the theological material, his method of presentation, and the way in which he shaped doctrine in several major areas. (shrink)

This chapter depicts the life and works of medieval Christian thinker Peter Lombard. Historically speaking, almost nothing is known of his family and early years. The letter from St. Bernard to Gilduin, abbot of St. Victor, during the first months of 1136 contained the first mention of Peter Lombard in a historical document. This chapter recounts his reputation as a teacher of theology and his decisive role in his selection as the bishop of Paris in 1159. Peter Lombard's rising fame (...) is attested not only to his titles; he was frequently considered as an expert in theological matters. He had distinctly drawn a fine line between respect for the tradition and the courage to innovate. There are some contemporary reports of Peter Lombard's lectures that give a glimpse of his style of teaching—his written doctrines did not always constitute his last word on a given topic. (shrink)

It is estimated that there are between 600 and 900 extant manuscripts of the Book of Sentences today, an incredible number for a medieval piece of writing. Peter Lombard, after becoming dissatisfied with the limitations of the literary genre of the gloss imposed upon theological reflections, turned in the 1150s to the composition of a sentence collection in his celebrated work entitled the Book of Sentences. It was a form of writing that he knew from his contemporaries, such as Master (...) Otto who wrote Summa sententiarum. It was not a static work and underwent a process of revision. This chapter examines the structure of a typical chapter in the Book of Sentences, which characterized this great work, and this also highlights some of the strategies of argumentation that Peter Lombard employs in it. (shrink)

To the modern reader, it might seem surprising that the Book of Sentences finds allusions to the Trinity in the Old Testament. Book 1 of the Sentence opens with the use/enjoyment distinction, with which we have already acquainted ourselves. There follows a section comprising several chapters in which Lombard examines the evidence for the existence of three persons in the one Godhead. This chapter also tries to reflect upon Peter Lombard's ambiguous attitude toward the theological debates of his time, or (...) at least toward certain aspects of these debates—he was taking up a question reluctantly, not because of its inherent value but only in order not to pass over a point which featured prominently in contemporary debates. It concludes that Lombard was well aware of the kind of counterarguments that his teaching on charity was likely to provoke; indeed, a lively controversy about it seemed to have started during his own lifetime. (shrink)

This chapter examines Book II of Peter Lombard's Book of Sentences. In Book II, Peter Lombard presented his ideas with his usual sense of humility, recognizing the limits of the human mind in coming to grasp why man was created as an incarnate spirit, how precisely the details of angelic nature are to be understood, or why God allowed the devil to tempt humanity, knowing as He did that we would fall. This chapter also looks at the divine nature and (...) the inner-Trinitarian mysteries and God's effects in creation. This chapter provides a complete structure of Book II. Distinction 1 opens the book with reflections on the concept of creation and its reasons. Distinctions 2 through 11 are devoted to the first elements of creation: the angels. Distinctions 12 to 15 offer a hexaemeron. Distinctions 16 to 18 focus more specifically on the creation of mankind, Distinction 18 being devoted exclusively to the creation of woman. (shrink)

This chapter examines Book III of the Peter Lombard's Book of Sentences. The purpose of this chapter is not a historical study of the controversies that surrounded the Book of Sentences before it became the standard textbook of theology in the Christian West, but to examine the strange doctrine that seemed to have marred the Christology of the Sentences. It explains how several contemporary authors have followed Baltzer in his judgment concerning the flawed structure of Book III of the Sentences. (...) It is especially the inclusion of the virtues in Christology that has met with the disapproval of historians of theology. Pope Alexander III condemned Peter's Christology by calling it vicious doctrine. Despite the condemnation, Lombard's Christology did not detract from the esteem in which the Lombard's theology was held. (shrink)

This chapter takes the conception of the sacraments as a sign of Lombard's theological system. Since the sacraments owe their salvific force directly to Christ's exemplary virtue and charity, Christology and the theology of the sacraments are considered closely related to each other. In Book IV, Peter reminds us of the structure of his work: “Having treated of those matters which pertain to the doctrine of things that are to be enjoyed [i.e., the Trinity], that are to be used [creation (...) in general], and that are to be used and enjoyed [man, the angels, the virtues, and even Christ].” The conception of sacraments as signs appropriately places them in the final part of the Lombard's theological system, governed as that is by the Augustinian distinction between things and signs. (shrink)

In the Christian tradition, there have always been those eager to paint the last judgment and the events leading up to it in sensational and lurid colors. Peter Lombard's simple strategy in providing a reliable account of Last Things is to stay close to the scriptural evidence. The structure of the treatise of the Sentences on Last Things is also given. Distinctions 43 and 44 address the resurrection of the dead, Distinction 44 being devoted, in particular, to the condition of (...) the bodies of the resurrected. Distinction 45 asks what prayers, alms, and burial ceremonies can accomplish on behalf of the deceased. This chapter looks at Peter's reference to the blessed and the damned, whose respective fates in the hereafter have formed the subject matter of Book IV of the Sentences. (shrink)

Peter Lombard is best known as the author of a celebrated work entitled Book of Sentences, which for several centuries served as the standard theological textbook in the Christian West. It was the subject of more commentaries than any other work of Christian literature besides the Bible itself. The Book of Sentences is essentially a compilation of older sources, from the Scriptures and Augustine down to several of the Lombard's contemporaries, such as Hugh of Saint Victor and Peter Abelard. Its (...) importance lies in the Lombard's organisation of the theological material, his method of presentation, and the way in which he shaped doctrine in several major areas. Despite his importance, however, there is no accessible introduction to Peter Lombard's life and thought available in any modern language. This volume fills this considerable gap. Philipp W. Rosemann begins by demonstrating how the Book of Sentences grew out of a long tradition of Christian reflection-a tradition, ultimately rooted in Scripture, which by the twelfth century had become ready to transform itself into a theological system. Turning to the Sentences, Rosemann then offers a brief exposition of the Lombard's life and work. He proceeds to a book-by-book examination and interpretation of its main topics, including the nature and attributes of God, the Trinity, creation, angelology, human nature and the Fall, original sin, Christology, ethics, and the sacraments. He concludes by exploring how the Sentences helped shape the further development of the Christian tradition, from the twelfth century through the time of Martin Luther. (shrink)

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. (shrink)

This article offers a reading of Eriugena’s thought that is inspired by Heidegger’s claim according to which being is constituted in a dialectical interplay of revelation and concealment. Beginning with an analysis of how “causality as concealing revelation” works on the level of God’s inner-Trinitarian life, the piece moves on to a consideration of the way in which the human soul reveals itself in successive stages of exteriorization that culminate in the creation of the body, its “image.” The body, however, (...) conceals as much as it reveals true human nature. Moreover, it is shown that for Eriugena all of reality, as theophany, possesses this character of concealing its fundamental truth. These insights lead Eriugena to a recognition of radical human finitude, as genuine wisdom requires an acknowledgement of our fundamental ignorance. (shrink)

The recently published volume Foucault, les Pères, le sexe brings together sixteen papers delivered at a conference held in 2018 to mark the launch of Les aveux de la chair, the posthumous fourth volume of the History of Sexuality. This review essay focuses on the contribution of the Foucault Archives to research on the philosopher’s thought; on critical reactions by patrologists to Foucault’s venture into study of the Church Fathers; and, finally, on the significance of the ‘Christian turn’ in the (...) late Foucault’s lectures and writings. (shrink)

It is easy to view tradition and deconstruction as irreconcilably opposed approaches to the history of ideas: tradition aims at the preservation, transmission, and deepening of highly valued insights, whereas deconstruction exposes inconsistencies in these insights and distortions in their transmission. This article argues that this opposition is more superficial than real. Closer analysis of the workings of tradition shows authentic tradition to require an inherent critical element, a deconstructive impulse. Deconstruction, on the other hand, makes sense only as part (...) of a project of tradition-building. The article advances this thesis in dialogue with Denys the Carthusian, a late medieval theologian who developed a significant theory of the Christian tradition, and Martin Heidegger, who in Being and Time carefully articulated the foundations of the deconstructive method. (shrink)

Book XI of his Confessions contains Augustine’s celebrated ‘treatise’ on time. In reality, however, the ‘treatise’ is no such thing, but rather an integral part of a discussion of God’s creation through the Word: if God creates by speaking, as Scripture affirms, then how can God speak, given the fact that he must be thought not to be subject to time? What is a timeless word? While these are the questions that Augustine explicitly addresses in Book XI, there is something (...) very important that he does not justify at all: namely, the possibility of speaking the world into existence. My paper investigates the episteme within which such a claim can make sense. How must one conceive of the relationship between the world and words to be able to assume that the latter can ‘make’ the former? (shrink)

In Understanding Scholastic Thought with Foucault, Philipp Rosemann provides a new introduction to Scholastic thought written from a contemporary and, notably, Foucauldian perspective. In taking inspiration from the methodology of historical research developed by Foucault, the book places the intellectual achievements of the thirteenth century, especially Thomas Aquinas, in a larger cultural and institutional framework. Rosemann’s analysis sees the Scholastic tradition as the process of the gradual reinscription of the Greek intellectual heritage into the center of Christian (...) culture. This process culminated in the thirteenth century, when new intellectual techniques facilitated the creation of a culture of dialogue. Rosemann argues that the witch-hunt can be seen as the result of a subtle but crucial transformation of the Scholastic episteme. (shrink)

This article offers a reading of Eriugena’s thought that is inspired by Heidegger’s claim according to which being is constituted in a dialectical interplay of revelation and concealment. Beginning with an analysis of how “causality as concealing revelation” works on the level of God’s inner-Trinitarian life, the piece moves on to a consideration of the way in which the human soul reveals itself in successive stages of exteriorization that culminate in the creation of the body, its “image.” The body, however, (...) conceals as much as it reveals true human nature. Moreover, it is shown that for Eriugena all of reality, as theophany, possesses this character of concealing its fundamental truth. These insights lead Eriugena to a recognition of radical human finitude, as genuine wisdom requires an acknowledgement of our fundamental ignorance. (shrink)

This paper, which the author delivered as his inaugural lecture as the Chair of Philosophy at Maynooth University, explores the relationship between philosophy, poetry, and religion. Through a line-by-line interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Steer Your Way’, it discovers the poet in a space between postmodern disillusionment and a desire for faith. What opens Cohen to the latter is specifically the experience of pain and brokenness, which lead him to the figure of Jesus. The paper concludes with a reflection on (...) Richard Kearney’s notion of ‘anatheism’, the return to a ‘God after God’. (shrink)

In the summer of 2016, the University of Dallas and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México organized a conference to discuss the topic of the middle class and its continued decline—recognizing that, despite some historical, political and cultural differences, healthy democracies throughout the hemisphere depend upon a strong and prosperous middle class. This volume brings together contributions by nine scholars from both institutions. The chapters reflect diverse disciplinary perspectives that are historical, political, economic, anthropological, and philosophical. Despite this diversity, the (...) volume possesses a conceptual unity that stems from its foundation in Aristotle’s approach to the middle class. On this basis, the topic is given a rigorous study that is both theoretical and data-driven. The chapters include treatments of Aristotle, Montesquieu, Adam Smith and Sir James Steuart, Catholic social teaching, the problem of inequality in the US, the definition and measurement of the middle class in Mexico, as well as its values and political attitudes, the rise of middle-class politics in early-twentieth-century Latin America, and a comparative analysis of healthcare for the middle class in North America. (shrink)