(Gilbertus, Gislebertus, or Gillibertus Porreta or Porretanus; also, less correctly, de la Porrée, 1075/80–1154). Gilbert was born in Poitiers and returned there as bishop in 1141 or 1142. After studying the liberal arts and philosophy with Hilary in Poitiers and Bernard in Chartres, he immersed himself in the study of the Bible in Laon. As Anselm of Laon’s disciple, Gilbert participated in the great exegetical undertaking that was to culminate in the formation of the Glossa ordinaria in Paris during the middle decades of the century. Gilbert’s commentaries on the Psalms (before 1117) and on the Epistles of Paul (perhaps a decade later) owed much to Anselm’s glosses and to his use of quaestiones and sententiae to explore theological and pastoral topics. In addition, Gilbert introduced to scriptural exegesis pedagogical techniques, such as the accessus ad auctores, used by grammarians to teach works of profane literature. These methods influenced subsequent exegetes: Peter Lombard’s biblical commentaries, for example, rely heavily on Gilbert’s work.
Gilbert returned to Chartres as a canon and by 1126 was chancellor of the cathedral. (There is no evidence to support the claim that he taught in Poitiers.) Though he certainly taught in Chartres, most contemporary testimony associates Gilbert with Paris, where he is reported teaching grammar, logic, and theology and where he helped promote the biblical glosses that were developing into the Glossa ordinaria.
In his commentaries (ca. 1140) on the Opuscula sacra of Boethius, Gilbert distinguishes between different aspects of a being: that which a thing is (id, quod est) and that by which a thing is what it is (id, quo est). The resulting attempt to differentiate among persons, natures, attributes, and essences, when applied to Trinitarian issues, led Gilbert to the brink of disaster. In March 1148, after the Council of Reims, Gilbert’s orthodoxy was examined on four counts: that God is not “divinity” or divine nature; that the Persons of the Trinity are not “divinity”; that God’s properties are not God and are not eternal; that the divine nature is not incarnate. The theologians present at the consistory never got a chance to debate these propositions fully: when it became clear that the curia sided with Gilbert, Bernard of Clairvaux (appointed to the prosecution) drew up a “confession of faith” of sound spiritual instinct (but loose terminology) that he presented to Eugenius III, in effect pressuring the pope to declare either Gilbert or Bernard a heretic.
Eugenius sidestepped the maneuver and made some token pronouncements regarding theological language; Gilbert, acquitted of heresy, declared that he “believed whatever Eugenius believed” and promised to correct any offending passages in his writings. No such “corrections” were ever made, to Bernard’s chagrin.
Gilbert of Poitiers. The Commentaries on Boethius, ed. Nikolaus M.Häring. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1966.
Colish, Marcia L. “Early Porretan Theology.” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 56 (1989):59–79.
Gross-Diaz, Theresa. The Psalms Commentary of Gilbert of Poitiers: From lectio divina to the Lecture Room. Leiden: Brill. Forthcoming.
Häring, Nikolaus M. “Handschriftliches zu den Werken Gilberts, Bishof von Poitiers.” Revue d’histoire des textes 8 (1978):133–94.
Maioli, Bruno. Gilberto Porretano: dalla grammatica speculativa alla metafisica del concreto. Rome: Bulzoni, 1979.
Nielsen, Lauge Olaf. Theology and Philosophy in the Twelfth Century: A Study of Gilbert of Porreta’s Thinking and the Theological Expositions of the Doctrine of the Incarnation During the Period 1130–1180. Leiden: Brill, 1982.
van Elswijk, H.C. Gilbert Porreta: sa vie, son œuvre, sa pensée. Louvain: Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense, 1966.
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