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The Four Books of Sentences (Libri Quattuor Sententiarum) is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the twelfth century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the 'sententia' or opinions on Biblical passages that it gathered together.

Origin

The Book of Sentences derived from the use of glosses (an explanation or interpretation of a Biblical text) by the masters who lectured using Saint Jerome's Latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate). A gloss might concern syntax or grammar, or it might be on some difficult point of doctrine. Lombard collected glosses from various texts (from Augustine of Hippo and other church fathers) and compiled them as one enormous gloss, which became the Four Books of Sentences (Quatuor Libri Sententiarum - 'Sententia' is the Latin term for 'opinion' or 'judgment'). Its style and approach seems to have been adapted from Peter Abelard's Sic et Non.
   Lombard arranged material from the Bible and the church Fathers by topics in divisions called books, then subdivided this material under 'questions' (Quaestiones). Since the authorities didn't always agree, he tried to give his own resolution, but often made no attempt to resolve the differences.
   Probably between 1223 and 1227, Alexander of Hales grouped the many chapters of the four books into a smaller number of 'Distinctions'. In this form, the book was widely adopted as a theological textbook in the high Middle Ages (the 13th and 14th centuries). A commentary on the Sentences was required of every master of theology, and were part of the examination system. At the end of lectures on Lombard's gloss, a student could apply for bachelor status within the theology faculty.
   The importance of the Sentences to medieval theology and philosophy lies in the overall framework that they provide to theological and philosophical discussion. All the great scholastic philosophers (Aquinas, Ockham, Bonaventura, Scotus) wrote commentaries on the Sentences. But these works were not exactly commentaries, for the Sentences were really a collection of glosses, and Lombard left many questions open, giving later scholars an opportunity to provide their own answers. (For example, Lombard, following Hugh of Saint Victor, considers the 'image' and 'likeness' of God as distinct, but doesn't decide for any of the three explanations of this distinction which he quotes).
   By the second half of the thirteenth century, it had become customary to use the themes of the distinctions as a point of departure for discussions of theological (and also philosophical) interest. The Quaestio format is typically in three parts. First, a list of certain disputed statements. Second a section stating the author's own view (beginning with the Latin 'respondeo' - I reply). Third, a list of answers to the first list of disputed statements.

Influence

The division into distinctions provides locations for many issues that were important in the later development of philosophy, and which are still difficult today. For example, Book II Distinction I Question 2 deals with the creation of the world, and the question of whether it has existed from eternity, or created at some finite time in the past. Book II, dist. 2, which is ostensibly a question about the spatial location of angels, provides a point of departure for mathematical questions about the nature of the continuum (for example Gregory of Rimini uses it for an argument to deny the reality of spatial points). Book II, dist. 3 involves the question of how angels are numerically distinct, for example individuated from one another. Scotus used the distinction to argue that what individuates any specific nature (for example being human) is some additional characteristic which is its 'individuating difference'. On occasion, he uses the term 'haecceity' (haecceitas) or 'thisness' for this positive characteristic.

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