Profile Major Works Resources

Thomas of Chobham, c.1168-c.1235.

Minor English Scholastic philosopher. 

A sub-dean in Salisbury, Chobham studied under Peter the Chanter in Paris.

Chobham's principal claim is the influential Summa Confessorum, a treatise on penance, written in the aftermath of the 1215 Lateran Council (which was long attributed to John of Salibury).  He deals with the issue of commerce, profit and usury.  He notes that the clergy (priests and monks) should not engage in trade at all, and considers that the laity might engage in trade, and make profit, so long as there was a "useful" transformation of raw materials (as given in Peter of Chanter's list of "useful crafts").  

Thomas of Chobham's Summa de arte pradeicandi, is a survey of the preacher's art, urging the application of Classical rhetoric to Christian preaching.

 

  

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Major Works of Thomas of Chobham

  • Summa Confessorum, c.1216
  • Summa de arte praedicandi
  • Summa de commendatione virtutum et extirpatione vitiorum
 
 
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Resources on Thomas of Chobham

 
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