The Sentences - Book 4: The Doctrine of Signs: 48 (Mediaeval Sources in Translation) - Softcover

To render all of the Sentences into English is a very large task, and a self-effacing one, which the modern academic world does not always appreciate as it ought to. We should thank Professor Silano all the more warmly for this fine accomplishment, which - needless to say - belongs in the library of every seminary, theology department, and medievalist in the English-speaking world. More than that: this translation of the Sentences can be used successfully in many kinds of college-level courses, from general introductions to the medieval world to specialized courses on issues in dogmatic theology. - Philipp Rosemann, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly

The principal signs and instruments of grace available to Christians as a result of Christ's redeeming work are the sacraments of the Church - baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, holy orders, and marriage. These are the main subjects of Book 4 of the Sentences, comprising forty-two of its fifty Distinctions. In particular, penance and marriage (with regard to which the Lombard's consensual theory was to prove extremely influential) receive extensive discussion. The last eight Distinctions are given over to a treatment of the last things: the bodily resurrection, purgation, hell, the last judgement, and eternity. The Book concludes with a reference to a text of Isaias that serves as an allegory of the function and purpose of the Sentences as a whole.