Continuing a project begun in 2002, with the publication of volume 1 of Mediaeval Commentaries on the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard, this volume fills some major lacunae in current research on the standard textbook of medieval theology. Twelve chapters study the tradition of the Sentences, from the first glosses of the twelfth century through Martin Luther's marginal notes. The questions addressed in these chapters throw light on the history of the Sentences literature as a whole, focusing on changes in literary structure and methodology as much as on matters of textual...

The work published in this third, and final, volume of Brill's handbook on the tradition of the Book of Sentences breaks new ground in three ways. First, several chapters contribute to the debate concerning the meaning of medieval authority and authorship. For some of the most influential literature on the Sentences consisted of study aids and compilations that were derivative or circulated anonymously. Consequently, the volume also sheds light on theological education "on the ground"--the kind of teaching that was dispensed by the average master and received by the average...