Gilbert de La Porree

GILBERT, gil'bert, GEORGE HOLLEY: Congregationalist; b. at Cavendish, Vt., Nov. 4, 1854. He was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1878, Union Theological Seminary in 1883, and the University of Leipsic (Ph.D., 1885). He was professor of New Testament literature in Chicago Theological Seminary 1886-1901. He has written The Poetry of Job (Chicago, 1888); The Student's Life of Jesus (New York, 1899); The Student's Life of Paul (1899); The Revelation of Jesus (1900); The First Interpreters of Jesus (1901); A Pr~imerof the Christian Religion (1902); and A History of the Apostolic Age (Chicago, 1906).

GILBERT, zhil"bar', DE LA PORREE, por"r"e' (Gilbertus Porretanus): Bishop of Poitiers; b. at Poitiers 1070; d. there Sept. 4, 1154. He studied in the episcopal school of Poitiers, then in Chartres under Bernard of Chartres, whose realistic Platonism he appropriated. In Paris he heard first William of Champesux, then his pupil and opponent Abelard, in Laon the famous theologians Anselm and Radulf. In knowledge he stood far above the average of the scholarship of his time. From 1125 to 1136 he was chancellor and presiding officer in the cathedral school in Chartres; in 1137 he became teacher of dialectics and theology in Paris; in 1141 he removed to his native city as leader of the episcopal school, and in 1142 he became also bishop. Two zealous archdeacons of his church denounced him in Rome for heresies in regard to the Trinity, and Bernard of Clairvaux became one of his chief opponents. Pope Eugenius III. postponed the decision to a council to be held in Reims in 1148. Gilbert was asked to furnish an authentic copy of his commentary on the De trinitate of Boetius. There were extracted from it four assailable sentences for the council at Reims, according to which he taught (1) that the divine essence was not God; (2) that the attributes of thepersons were not the persons themselves; (3) that the t.heologicai persons could not be predicated in any proposition (it would be wrong to say, for instance, that God is the Father); (4) that the divine nature was not incarnated. In knowledge of the Fathers and in dialectics Gilbert was far superior to his opponents, also to Bernard. The latter set up a confession of faith in opposition to Gilbert, but the cardinals .were against him. Bernard had to humble himself, although the pope approved his confession in a general way. Gilbert agreed to purify his manuscripts from errors, and after reconciliation with his opponents returned to Poitiers where he administered his diocese until his end, much respected as a teacher; but he does not seem to have corrected his book. Gilbert's philosophy is a consistent realism, combined with the dialectic method of Aristotle. To the mystics he naturally appeared as the champion of a dangerous rationalism. Walter of St. Victor called him one of the "four labyrinths of France." But the earnest and solid character of the man, his devotion to the Church, and his personal piety are a guaranty that his doctrine and activity were not destructive although he asserted the right to liberty of scientific investigation.

(R. Schmidt.)

Bibliography: Gilbert's Commentary on the writings of Boetius are in MPL, lxiv., his Principia and three letters are in MPL, clxxxviii. The writings of Gaufredus, secretary to Bernard of Clairvaux against Gilbert are in MPL, elxxxv. Consult: Otto of Freising, Gestorum Friderici I. libri, book i., chaps. 48, 50-61, in MGH, Script., xx (1868), 338-491; Histoire litt�raire de la France, vol. xii.; Berthaud, Gilbert de la Porrge . . et sa philosophie, Paris, 1892; Ceillier, Auteurs sacr�s, xiv. 342 sqq., 1119-20, x. 654-666; KL, v. 599-601.