Praepositinus of Cremona and William of Auxerre on Suppositio

: Early medieval discussions of supposition begin with reflections on an early passage of the first chapter of St Augustine ’ s De Trinitate. Here Augustine is criticizing Sabellius and his followers who claimed that the Father had begotten himself, i.e. God begets deity, which gave rise to a kind of modalism. These words of Augustine show up in Peter Lombard ’ s Sentences , Book I, Distinction 4, and gave rise to a larger debate about the words that can properly apply to God which engaged the minds not least of Abelard and Alberic of Reims, culminating in Gilbert of Poitiers. Praepositinus (1135 – 1210) and William of Auxerre (1140 – 1231) are the sources of a new trajectory in interpreting the supposition of the name ‘ God ’ , which directly influ-ences the Summa Halensis. This paper examines the nature of that influence and provides a translation of brief texts from Prepositinus and William that form its back-ground. Early medieval discussions of supposition begin with reflections on an early passage St Augustine Here Augustine is criticizing Sabellius and his followers who claimed that the Father had begotten Himself. These words of Augustine show up in Peter Lombard ’ s Sentences , Book 1, Distinction 4, which opens with the question: Utrum Deus genuit Deum? ( ‘ Whether it is to be granted that God generated Himself? Peter Lombard into any historical detail, we examine the Theologia or Scholarium Abelard understanding, would hold on to their own opinion, which