{"id":770,"date":"2018-04-20T16:51:52","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T16:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/?p=770"},"modified":"2018-04-20T21:19:38","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T21:19:38","slug":"saint-anselm-of-canterbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/2018\/04\/20\/saint-anselm-of-canterbury\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Anselm of Canterbury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>
\n(Statue of Anselm at Canterbury Cathedral, taken May 2010, by Ealdgyth, obtained from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons 3.0 license)<\/p>\n

If you have taken a philosophy class somewhere, you probably encountered this great thinker from antiquity, and his famous definition of God as \u201cthat than which nothing greater can be conceived\u201d. In his work, proslogion<\/em>, he endeavored to demonstrate God\u2019s existence in what has since been labelled the \u201contological argument\u201d. Basically, If you can conceive of something like God, defined as \u201cthat than which nothing greater can be conceived\u201d, but God doesn\u2019t actually exist, then anything that does exist would be greater. Hence God must exist in reality and not just in thought. It\u2019s clever, though it can be (and has been) punctured by others, such as Immanuel Kant. Variants of the argument have been put forward by Descartes, Leibniz, and Goedel. Even today the argument provides grist for reflection. Few would regard it as an absolute proof of God, but perhaps in its best forms it demonstrates that belief in God isn\u2019t unreasonable, as the loudest screamers of the atheist community would insist. 1<\/sup><\/p>\n

Another sign of the importance of St. Anselm is that in the divide between East and West in Christianity, the theological focus in the West since St Anselm has been upon the mystery of the atonement. In his book Cur Deus Homo<\/em> (\u201cWhy God Man?\u201d) Anselm reflects upon the atonement. Jesus is regarded by the church universal as a being with two natures\u2013\u201cfully God and fully Man\u201d. As St Athanasius put it centuries earlier:<\/p>\n

\u2026For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess,
\nthat our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
\nGod, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;
\nand Man of the substance of his Mother, born in the world;
\nPerfect God and perfect Man,
\nof a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(You may read the Athanasian creed in its entirety here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Anselm started with this accepted christology and asked, \u201cwhy?\u201d His answer became a powerful reflection upon the nature of the atonement. The thesis is essentially that we humans owe a cosmic debt that we cannot pay. Only God is qualified to pay off that debt, but can\u2019t do so because He doesn\u2019t owe it. With Jesus you have one who both owes the debt and can pay it.<\/p>\n

Anselm (1033-1109) joined the Benedictine monastery at Bec in Normandy, in 1060, rising to become Abbot. Not long afterward, England was conquered by Anselm\u2019s king, William the Conqueror. Many of Anselm\u2019s friends went to England, and he made trips to oversee property belonging to Bec. In 1093 Anselm became Archbishop of Canterbury. His years in Canterbury were stormy, as he clashed with the English monarch over what is known to history as the \u201cinvestiture controversy\u201d, and twice had to go into exile. After his death he was canonized, and is today regarded as the father of scholasticism. He is considered one of the \u201cdoctors of the church\u201d (from Latin docere<\/em>, \u201cto teach\u201d), men regarded as great intellects who profoundly influenced Western Christianity.<\/p>\n

In addition to the heady philosophical treatises, we have the following prayer from Saint Anselm:
\n
\nO Lord my God,
\nTeach my heart this day where and how to see you,
\nWhere and how to find you.
\nYou have made me and remade me,
\nAnd you have bestowed on me
\nAll the good things I possess,
\nAnd still I do not know you.
\nI have not yet done that
\nFor which I was made.
\nTeach me to seek you,
\nFor I cannot seek you
\nUnless you teach me,
\nOr find you
\nUnless you show yourself to me.
\nLet me seek you in my desire,
\nLet me desire you in my seeking.
\nLet me find you by loving you,
\nLet me love you when I find you.
\n<\/em>
\n(Read more at BeliefNet<\/a>).<\/p>\n

We also have a song of St Anselm,
\nJesus, as a mother you gather your people to you:
\nyou are gentle with us as a mother with her children;
\nOften you weep over our sins and our pride:
\ntenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement.
\nYou comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds:
\nin sickness you nurse us,
\nand with pure milk you feed us.
\nJesus, by your dying we are born to new life:
\nby your anguish and labour we come forth in joy.
\nDespair turns to hope through your sweet goodness:
\nthrough your gentleness we find comfort in fear.
\nYour warmth gives life to the dead:
\nyour touch makes sinners righteous.
\nLord Jesus, in your mercy heal us:
\nin your love and tenderness remake us.
\nIn your compassion bring grace and forgiveness:
\nfor the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.<\/em>
\n(From James Kiefer<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Saint Anselm<\/p>\n

Almighty God, who didst raise up thy servant Anselm to teach the Church of his day to understand its faith in thine eternal Being, perfect justice, and saving mercy: Provide thy Church in every age with devout and learned scholars and teachers, that we may be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.<\/em><\/p>\n

Further information about Saint Anselm:<\/p>\n