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Robert Pullen, an English theologian who taught at Oxford and Paris and became a cardinal and chancellor of the Roman Church under Pope Lucius II (d. c. 1146), composed these Sententiae as a systematic survey of theology in eight parts. The work opens with a list of chapter summaries so that readers can find what they seek. The first part shows that God exists, has no beginning and is one, arguing against idolatry, and then treats the three persons of the Trinity; later parts proceed through creation, the fall, the incarnation, sin and grace, the sacraments and the last things. In the middle passage Pullen discusses how grace, faith, justice and good works grow together.
Pullen’s Sententiae belong to the generation of systematic collections that preceded Peter Lombard’s Sentences, which soon replaced them in the schools. The work is notable for its independent arrangement and for its moderate positions on questions such as penance and the sacraments. Bernard of Clairvaux praised Pullen’s sound doctrine, and the work is a useful witness to theological teaching in the early twelfth-century schools.
About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 186, Parisiis 1854), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.