Like so many theologians, Peter Lombard’s writings originated in his classroom teaching.
Peter Lombard taught theology in the cathedral school of Notre Dame which evidently became The Four Sentences. Gregg Allison notes that The Four Sentences became “a standard textbook of theology until the time of Reformation.”[1] McGrath agreed when he wrote: The first major theological textbook of western theology is Peter Lombard’s Four Books of the Sentences, compiled at the University of Paris during the twelfth century, probably during the years 1155–8. In essence, the work is a collection of quotations (or “sentences”), drawn from patristic writers in general, and Augustine in particular.[2] Lombard later became a bishop in Paris in 1159.
The Four Sentences were extremely influential beyond being textbooks for students. His influence impacted other theologians. McGrath contends the Lombard’s writing influenced Calvin: An alternative explanation, however, is that he (Calvin) noticed and adapted the fourfold division of material in the Four Books of the Sentences of Peter Lombard, a seminal medieval theologian to whom Calvin often refers. Was Calvin setting himself up as the Protestant successor to Peter Lombard, and his Institutes as the successor to his great theological textbook? We shall never know.[3]
McGrath noted the influence of Lombard beyond Calvin to other theologians who commented on The Four Sentences which included “Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and Duns Scotus, although Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, dating from a century later, surveyed the totality of Christian theology in three parts, using principles similar to those adopted by Peter Lombard while placing greater emphasis on philosophical questions (particularly those raised by Aristotle) and the need to reconcile the different opinions of patristic writers.”[4] Lombard’s influence was felt especially among the Roman Catholic Church. Lombard’s list of the seven sacraments became “definitive for medieval Catholic theology.”[5] Here is the list of seven sacraments provided by Peter Lombard: “baptism, confirmation, the bread of blessing (that is, the eucharist), penance, extreme unction, ordination, and marriage.” Lombard’s view of the sacraments also reflects the meritorious nature of the sacraments in Catholic theology. Lombard wrote: “Now let us consider the sacraments of the New Law, which are baptism, confirmation, the bread of blessing (that is, the eucharist), penance, extreme unction, ordination, and marriage. Some of these, such as baptism, provide a remedy against sin and confer the assistance of grace.”[6]
[1] Allison, Gregg. Historical Theology (p. 734). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
[2] McGrath, Alister E. Historical Theology (p. 6). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
[3] Ibid., 145.
[4] Ibid., 6.
[5] Ibid., 111.
[6] Ibid., 111-112.