Peter Lombard (c. 1100 – July 20, 1160 in Paris) was a scholastic theologian and bishop of the 12th century.

Peter Lombard was born in Lumellogno, near Novara, Italy, to a poor family. His education most likely began in Italy at the cathedral schools of Novara and Lucca. The patronage of Otto, bishop of Lucca, and of St. Bernard allowed him to leave Italy and further his studies at Reims and Paris. In Paris, he came into contact with Peter Abelard and Hugh of St. Victor, who were among the leading theologians of the time. Around 1145, Peter became a "magister," or professor, at the cathedral school of Notre Dame in Paris.

In 1159, he was named bishop of Paris.

Peter Lombard's most famous work was "Libri quatuor sententiarum, the "Book of Sentences." This served as the standard textbook of theology at the medieval universities, from the 1220s until the 16th century. There is no work of Christian literature, except for the Bible itself, that has been commented upon more frequently. All the major medieval thinkers, from Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas to William of Ockham and Gabriel Biel, were influenced by it. Even the young Martin Luther still wrote glosses on the "Sentences."

The "Book

Peter Lombard's most famous and most controversial doctrine in the "Sentences" was his identification of charity with the Holy Spirit in Book I, distinction 17. According to this doctrine, when we love God and neighbor, this love literally is God; we become divine and are taken up into the life of the Trinity. This idea was never declared unorthodox, but few theologians have been prepared to follow Peter Lombard in his audacious teaching. Compare Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Deus Caritas Est, 2006.

Reference

• Philipp W. Rosemann, Peter Lombard (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). Petrus Lombardus

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