Forty Centuries of Christian Writing

The Irish Collection of Canons

Collectio Canonum Hibernensis

Anonymous

Canons arranged by topic and drawn as readily from the Old Testament and Irish synods as from Roman councils, with each source named.

The Book of Proof

Ammar al-Basri · 9th century

A defence of Christian doctrine framed as a test for distinguishing a true religion from a false one, arguing that Christianity spread without the sword, money, or tribal advantage.

On Liturgical Origins

Libellus de Exordiis

Walafrid Strabo · c. 808–849

A historical rather than allegorical account of where churches, altars, bells, images, vestments, and the vernacular in worship actually came from.

The Decretum and Panormia

Ivo of Chartres · c. 1040–1115

Canon law collections with a prologue on what to do when authoritative texts contradict each other — distinguish strict law from dispensation, and read each canon in its circumstances.

Yes and No

Sic et Non

Peter Abelard · 1079–1142

A hundred and fifty-eight theological questions with the authorities set out for and against each, and a prologue on how apparent contradictions in the fathers should be resolved.

Deeds of the Kings of the English

William of Malmesbury · c. 1095–c. 1143

English history from the Saxon settlement to his own day, written by a librarian who compared his sources and said so when he doubted them.

The Concord of Discordant Canons

Decretum Gratiani

Gratian · 12th century

Nearly four thousand canons arranged as cases and questions, with the contradictions between them argued out and reconciled rather than merely listed.

The Mystical Ark

Benjamin Major

Richard of Saint Victor · d. 1173

The ark of the covenant read as a diagram of contemplation, with six kinds of contemplative seeing rising from the senses to what exceeds reason.

The Rules of Theology

Regulae Theologicae

Alan of Lille · c. 1128–1202

A hundred and thirty-four axioms for theology in imitation of geometry, opening with the definition of God as an intelligible sphere whose centre is everywhere.

The Art of Preaching

Ars Praedicandi

Alan of Lille · c. 1128–1202

How to construct a sermon: take a text, divide it, support each part with authorities and examples, and adapt the whole to soldiers, married people, judges, or the poor.

The Summa of Theology

Alexander of Hales and his school · c. 1185–1245

A vast collaborative theology from the first Franciscan master at Paris, notable for organising material by question rather than by commentary on a text.

Spiritual Ascents

Gerard Zerbolt of Zutphen · 1367–1398

A practical method of self-examination and meditation in ordered steps, written for the lay brothers and sisters of the Common Life.

The Monotessaron

Jean Gerson · 1363–1429

The four gospels harmonised into a single continuous narrative in a hundred and fifty chapters, with the sources marked throughout.

On the Beryl

De Beryllo

Nicholas of Cusa · 1401–1464

A short work using the image of a lens through which the invisible becomes visible, on how the mind may glimpse the coincidence of opposites in God.

A Sifting of the Qur'an

Cribratio Alkorani

Nicholas of Cusa · 1401–1464

A close reading of the Qur'an in Latin translation, looking for what in it is true and can be built on rather than only for what can be refuted.

The Rosary of Spiritual Exercises

Rosetum Exercitiorum Spiritualium

Jan Mombaer · c. 1460–1501

A vast handbook of methodical meditation, with numbered steps, memory devices, and scales for examining conscience day by day.

Commonplaces of Theology

Loci Communes Rerum Theologicarum

Philipp Melanchthon · 1497–1560

Reformation doctrine arranged by topic — sin, law, grace, justification — beginning from the claim that to know Christ is to know his benefits.

On Translating: An Open Letter

Martin Luther · 1483–1546

A defence of adding the word alone to justified by faith, and a description of how hard it is to make Hebrew speak German without sounding like a foreigner.

On Theological Sources

De Locis Theologicis

Melchor Cano · 1509–1560

A ranking of the sources of theological argument — scripture, tradition, councils, fathers, reason, history — and how much weight each can bear.

Key to the Sacred Scriptures

Clavis Scripturae Sacrae

Matthias Flacius Illyricus · 1520–1575

A biblical dictionary and a treatise on interpretation arguing that scripture is clear in itself and must be read according to its own idiom, context, and aim.

On Procuring the Salvation of the Indians

José de Acosta · 1540–1600

A manual of missionary method arguing that peoples differ in their capacities and customs and must be approached differently, and that force produces only pretence.

Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith

Robert Bellarmine · 1542–1621

A systematic survey of every disputed doctrine, stating Protestant positions accurately and at length before answering them.

Logic, or the Art of Thinking

La Logique de Port-Royal

Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole

A logic textbook that treats ideas, judgement, reasoning, and method, and introduces probability into the discussion of belief for the first time.

On Diplomatics

De Re Diplomatica

Jean Mabillon · 1632–1707

A method for telling genuine medieval charters from forgeries by their script, formulas, seals, and materials, written after a Jesuit questioned his abbey's documents.