William of Auvergne c. 1180 – 1249

William of Auvergne was a French scholastic theologian and bishop of Paris from 1228 until his death in 1249, and one of the first major Latin Christian thinkers to engage seriously with the new Aristotelian and Arabic philosophical material then arriving in the schools of Paris. His Magisterium Divinale et Sapientiale, a long summa in seven parts on God, the universe, the soul, the laws, the sacraments, and related matters, defended the doctrine that God is being itself and that all other beings are by participation, while criticizing both Avicennan and Averroist positions. He had a deep influence on the next generation of Paris masters, including the Franciscans Alexander of Hales and Bonaventure.