Stephen Langton

The article provides updated basic information on the life, the works, and the principal doctrines of Stephen Langton. Langton was born in England around the midtwelfth
century. Around 1170 he arrived in Paris, where he
was to remain until 1206, becoming one of the most
outstanding theologians of the newly established university.
In 1206, Pope Innocent III made him a cardinal and
brought him to Rome, where he probably taught theology
until 1207. Hoping thereby to resolve a disputed election
to the see of Canterbury, the pope consecrated him archbishop
on June 17th, 1207. But King John refused to accept
him in England until July 16th, 1213. SL spent the intervening
years in exile, mainly at the Cistercian abbey of
Pontigny. Once in England, he supported the rebel barons
against John and played a key role in the negotiations
leading to Magna Carta (June 1215). He was subsequently
suspended by the pope and left Britain once again. Also in
1215 he took part in the Fourth Lateran Council.
Reestablished by Honorius III in 1216, he governed the
archdiocese until his death in 1228. All SL’s numerous
works that have come down to us are theological works:
he did not write any philosophical works nor did he
comment on any philosophical text. His oeuvre as
a whole can be considered as the enactment of a great
project of theological training inspired by Peter Cantor,
which comprises the clarification of theological statements,
a comprehensive study of the Bible, and also a pastoral
training for theologians, aiming to make them good
preachers and zealous propagandists for the sacrament of
penance. Nevertheless, in three of his works (the Sentence
Commentary, the Summa magistri Stephani, and the
Quaestiones theologiae) SL enunciates a series of philosophical
positions, mainly in the field of logic and semantics,
but also on other topics, such as God’s will and
omnipotence, human freedom, and the nature of the soul.