Hugh of Saint-Cher’s Theology of the Hypostatic Union: The Theology of the Hypostatic Union in the Early Thirteenth Century. Vol. III by Walter Principe (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Hugh of Saint-Cher's Theology of the Hypostatic Union: The Theology of the Hypostatic Union in the Early Thirteenth Century. Vol. III. By WALTER PRINCIPE. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. 1970. Pp. 265. This work is the third in a series by Fr. Principe dealing with the theology of the Hypostatic Union in the early thirteenth century. Previous studies examined the doctrine of William of Auxerre and Alexander of Hales. An analysis of the theology of Philip the Chancellor is in preparation. His work on Hugh, however, is perhaps the most important of the three thus far published. It is not that it evinces greater scholarship than the others but rather because of the place Hugh of Saint-Cher himself occupies in the history of theology. It was he who initiated the theological literary form of the Scriptum super Sententiis, a commentary on the Sententiae of Peter Lombard. The Glossae of his predecessors were limited in their scope, adhering closely for the most part to the text of the Lombard and explaining its difficulties. The purpose of Hugh in the Scriptum went far beyond this. Within the framework of the Sentences he introduced the questions of his day and the solutions proposed by his contemporaries. He was the master of the status quaestionis and with clarity and order presented a comprehensive view of the state of theology in the early thirteenth century. Because of his frequent use of the works of his predecessors and contemporaries, his Scriptum was undoubtedly a useful tool for theological students and for other masters in theology. In fact, the Scriptum must be considered one of the most popular theological works of the time. It would be a mistake, however, to consider Hugh merely a compiler of opinions. He took a personal stand concerning the questions under discussion , and at times added significant and original insights of his own, insights which in some instances have become part of the heritage of later Catholic theology. As Fr. Principe notes, he was among the first, if not the first, to teach the simplicity of the human soul and to mention, while vehemently rejecting it, the thesis of the hylomorphic composition of the human soul from form and spiritual matter. In sacramental theology he was the first theologian to discern a matter and form in all the sacraments and to understand these principles in the Aristotelian sense of determinable and determining elements. He appears to have introduced the application of the concept of res et sacramentum into the theology of sacramental character . He was also the first theologian to achieve a complete assimilation of the Sacrament of Penance into the theology of the other sacraments of the New Law. Many of these original positions were the foundations for 690 BOOK REVIEWS 691 further development and clarification by later theologians of the century, especially St. Thomas. Hugh then is to be numbered in a special way among those theologians who in the development of Scholastic theology were the major intellectual links between the Sentences of the Lombard and the Summa of Aquinas. Fr. Principe's specific concern, however, is Hugh's doctrine on the Hypostatic Union. The Scriptum, o£ course, is the main source of his investigation of Hugh's doctrine. Written between 1230 and 1232 it represents the clearest and most comprehensive study of this mystery in the thirteenth century before the so-called Summa Fratris Alexandri. The author, however, does not limit himself to Book III of the Scriptum, wherein Hugh formally considers the Hypostatic Union. He gleans from the whole Scriptum the doctrine and thought of Hugh on whatever pertains to the question at hand. Furthermore, he also includes in his analysis Hugh's scriptural commentaries, as well as one of his theological questions. As the author points out, however, caution must be used in regard to the latter work, since there is some question as to its authenticity. The scope of this approach to the sources gives Fr. Principe's work a unique value for scholars, since no previous study on Hugh gives so comprehensive an analysis. There is a further feature of Fr. Principe's study which is of immense value...