A medieval "abbreviatio": John Peckham's "Questio de existentia dei": Introduction and edition.

Crozier, William

Abstract

This essay offers an introduction to, and an edition of, the Questio de existentia dei found in MS. Todi 58, fol. 145ra-rb. This codex, which contains one of the earliest known complete transcriptions of the first book of Bonaventure’s Sentences commentary, as well as the highly contentious Questiones de theologia attributed to Bonaventure by G.H. Tavard, Todi 58, – despite its importance for our understanding of mid-thirteenth-century Franciscan theology – has largely been ignored. This essay shows that the Questio de existentia dei is an abbreviation of the discussion of God’s existence found in the Sentences commentary of Bonaventure’s most vocal defender and protégé, John Peckham (1230-1292) – the first Franciscan Archbishop of Canterbury. To prove the connection to Peckham, the content, argument, and structure of the Questio de existentia dei are compared with Peckham’s discussion of God’s existence as found in his 1 Sent., dist. 2, q. 1. This comparison reveals that there is an undeniable convergence between the two texts, thereby justifying the claim that the text found in Todi 58 is in fact an abbreviation of the corresponding text in Peckham’s Sentences commentary.

Citation

Crozier, W. (2023). A medieval "abbreviatio": John Peckham's "Questio de existentia dei": Introduction and edition. Recherches de théologie et de philosophie médiévales, 90(1), 49-73. https://doi.org/10.2143/RTPM.90.1.3291866

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 11, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 14, 2024
• Journal: Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales
• Print ISSN: 1370-7493
• Electronic ISSN: 1783-1717
• Publisher: Peeters
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 90
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 49-73
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2143/RTPM.90.1.3291866
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2251906