MIDDLETON, Richard of

by Richard of Middleton

£3,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

Rare edition by Benzonus of Middleton's commentary on the fourth book of Peter Lombard's great 'Sentences,' accompanied by 'Quodlibeta,' related disputations. It was one of very few works by an Englishman of sufficient reputation to be internationally printed in the incunable and post-incunable periods. The fourth book covers 'the sacraments in general, the seven sacraments in particular, and the four last things, death, judgement, hell, and heaven.' (Catholic Encyclopaedia). The Quodlibeta were answers to scholarly questions posed by pupils or by interested parties. They address many and varied topics, religious and scientific, including one of the earliest discussions of hypnotism, auto-suggestion and telepathy. The possibility of resurrection, the nature of the human intellect, whether Peter sinned when he denied Christ, the meaning of 'good luck', if one has sinned having done something through direst necessity, and the morality of the marriage of two persons of wildly differing years i.a. are discussed. The standard theological textbook of the medieval university, the Sentences ia a compilation of extracts from the Bible, religious Fathers (especially Augustine), and other sources of authority, and covers the whole body of theological doctrine to form the basis for virtually the entire field of Christian theology and its scholastic interpretation. It represented the first effort to bring together commentaries on the full range of theological issues on a systematic basis,

• Binding: Hardcover

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