Incipit summa per Lombardi

Peter Lombard's Sententiarum, of The Four Books of Sentences, was the main textbook used by Oxford University theological students for three centuries; from it doctoral candidates chose the thesis they would ultimately defend. At the Sorbonne in Paris, it superseded the Bible as the primary text for theological students. The book is a compilation of biblical texts, relevant passages from Church Fathers and many medieval thinkers on almost the entire field of Christian theology as it was understood in the 12th century, and was an attempt to bring together commentaries on the full range of theological issues; hence its importance as a textbook of theology.