A Brief Overview of the Life of St. Anselm, pt 2 of 2

A Brief Overview of the Life of St. Anselm, pt. 2 of 2

Perhaps Anselm’s greatest legacy is not in his historical significance, but rather his theological contributions.  Anselm’s main method of theological argument was dialectic reasoning, a popular method of debate and proof in philosophy using logic and reasoning.  The steps of dialectic involved putting forth a thesis and endeavoring to prove the thesis by overcoming objections.  If all objections were overcome, then the statement could be assumed true.  It was often used in debate, with one party offering objections and the other refuting those objections[1].  This dialectic reasoning can be seen in all of Anselm’s works, and he often sought proof of his theological thesis without the aid of scripture.

His first work, De Grammatico (1070) was written while he was yet a monk of Bec.  It was simply an introduction to the use of dialectic, based on the textbooks of logic from Aristotle and Boethius.[2]

Monologion (1077) began as a record of his teachings in the form of a meditation.  At the request of his students at Bec, Anselm recorded these insights.  In this we begin to see Anselm’s methodology in intertwining faith and logic.  Monologion does not make use of scripture, but rather makes a proof solely with reason.  He showed that faith is necessary to develop reason, and that reason should not be used to define faith.  Welch summarizes it by saying, “The truth that is received by faith and the truth which is discovered by intelligence are both of God.  They cannot finally conflict, simply because they come from the same source.”[3]

Proslogion (1078), in companion to the previous work, set forth an ontological argument for the existence of God.  Once again making use of logic and reason, this work showed that God could not not exist.  At the core of this argument is the “something than which nothing greater can be thought”.[4] If what exists outside the mind is greater than what is in the mind, then the highest conception of the mind cannot be greater than the highest form of existence outside the mind.  Therefore, “something than which nothing greater can be thought” must exist outside the mind, and this something is God.

During his first exile as archbishop under Rufus in 1097, Anselm completed his treatise Cur Deus Homo (1098), translated Why the God-Man.  It is arguably his “greatest intellectual achievement”.[5] Cur Deus Homo was written largely in response to the theologian and philosopher Roscelin, who challenged that, “the three persons of the trinity were either so separate that they could be said to be three Gods, or so united that all three must have been incarnate in Christ.”[6] The challenge was born out of the inability of dialectic reasoning to reconcile the trinity.  Anselm, up to this point, had not yet voiced his views on the subject, perhaps because he knew of the dialectic problem with the trinity.  In order to complete his theology and counter the statements of Roscelin, it was necessary for him to fuse his metaphysical arguments for the existence of God with the physical incarnation of Jesus, to which Cur Deus Homo is assigned.

The arguments and theology in Cur Deus Homo can be summarized by the following ascertains.  Through disobedience, man has fallen out of the blessing of God.  Since this compromises God’s purpose of creation, redemption must be made and the redemption must be “as great as the debt has been grievous.”[7] Since it was man’s disobedience, it falls to man to bring redemption.  But man is incapable of offering anything greater than his disobedience.  Therefore, man cannot provide the redemption, but yet he must.  Only God is great enough to redeem the disobedience.  “Since only God can, and only Man ought to make this offering, it must be made by a God-Man.”[8] This argument not only supports the incarnation as a reality, but proves that it is necessary.  Anselm’s work also asserts redemption not as the popular opinion of a debt to be paid to the Devil, but as the fulfillment of divine requirements for holiness.

Anselm’s method of theological arguments was revolutionary in the church.  Though dialectic had been used by previous theologians in the early church, it had been used primarily as a means of defense of the faith beneath the attacks of secular philosophers.  Anselm took a different approach to the use of dialectic.  Instead of defending his faith, he used logic and reason to prove his faith from a purely philosophical and scholastic point of view.  This premeditated union of philosophy and theology changed the church’s approach to theology even to this day.  Indeed, students of modern Christian apologetics would do well to study Anselm’s methodology and arguments.  Such approaches to providing proof of Christian faith are very convincing to the modern atheistic and scientific world.  It is proof by reason and not by scripture that the world demands, and Anselm has provided a means of developing such proofs.

This troubled youth, who became a student, a monk, an abbot, and then an archbishop, is a striking example of what God can do through a dedicated life.  Though there is little of significance in the historical study of Anselm, his life can be a testimonial to the power of God to transform a person into a world-changing instrument.  His writings did indeed change the world.  From the humble students at the abbey of Bec, to kings of England and the popes of Rome, to students and professors of theology a thousand years later, Anselm’s works not only survive, but thrive.  Though his arguments are often debated and sometimes refuted, it cannot be denied that his methodology in building proofs has become integral to theological debate.  Even though his death may have deprived the world of one of the greatest theological minds, his legacy still lives that we may “learn how precious is his death in the sight of the Lord.”[9]

---

[1] Peter Coffey, The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908), s.v. “Dialectic,” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04770a.htm (accessed October 27, 2009).

[2] R. W. Southern, Saint Anselm and His Biographer (1963; repr., London: Cambridge University Press, 1966), 15.

[3] A. C. Welch, Anselm and His Work (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1901), 66.

[4] Southern, 60.

[5] Southern, 77.

[6] Southern, 79.

[7] Welch, 174.

[8] Southern, 93.

[9] Eadmer, The Life of St Anselm: Archbishop of Canterbury, ed. R. W. Southern (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons LTD, 1962), 153.