Abstract
Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109), also known as Anselm of Aosta, Anselm of Bec, and Saint Anselm, was one of the most important thinkers of the early Middle Ages. He was thoroughly familiar with the Boethian logic of his time, and he contributed to some themes within the art of logic. His main contribution, however, was in the area of philosophical theology. Following the examples set by Augustine and Boethius, Anselm developed the idea of “faith seeking understanding” (fides quaerens intellectum), which aims at elucidating the content of the Christian faith through rational analysis and by providing rational arguments for the central Christian claims. Anselm’s method has been seen as paradigmatic for medieval theology, and he has been called the “Father of Scholasticism.” In addition to his methodological ideas, Anselm’s best-known contributions are the argument for God’s existence based on the notion “that than which a greater cannot be thought” in the treatise Proslogion, taken to be the earliest formulation of the ontological argument, and the satisfaction theory of atonement in the treatise Cur Deus homo. Other important themes in his philosophical theology include the concepts of will and free choice and the questions about the relation of free choice to sin, grace, predestination, and foreknowledge.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Anselm of Canterbury. (1946–1961). Opera omnia (6 vols.; ed. Schmitt, F. S.) Edinburgh: Nelson (repr Stuttgart: Frommann, 1968).
Anselm of Canterbury. (1973). The prayers and meditations of St Anselm (trans: Ward, B.). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Anselm of Canterbury. (1998). The major works (ed. Davies, B. & Evans, G. R.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Anselm of Canterbury. (2000). Complete philosophical and theological treatises (trans: Hopkins, J. & Richardson, H.). Minneapolis: Banning.
Anselm of Canterbury. (2007). Basic writings (trans: Williams, T.). Indianapolis: Hackett.
(1969). Memorials of St. Anselm (ed. Southern, R. W. & Schmitt, F. S.). Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi 1. Oxford: British Academy.
Schmitt, F. S. (1936). Ein neues unvollendetes Werk des hl. Anselm von Canterbury. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters, Band 33, Heft 3. Münster: Aschendorff (edition of Anselm’s unfinished work, which is not included in Opera omnia).
Secondary Sources
Barth, K. (1960). Anselm: Fides quaerens intellectum (trans: Robertson, I.). Richmond: John Knox (Original in German: 1st edn 1931, 2nd edn 1958).
Boschung, P. (2006). From a topical point of view: Dialectic in Anselm of Canterbury’s De Grammatico. Leiden: Brill.
Charlesworth, M. J. (1965). St. Anselm’s Proslogion with a reply on behalf of the fool by Gaunilo and the author’s reply to Gaunilo. Translated with an introduction and philosophical commentary. Oxford: Clarendon.
Davies, B., & Leftow, B. (Eds.). (2004). The Cambridge companion to Anselm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eadmer. (1962). The life of St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury (Vita Anselmi) (ed. and trans: Southern, R. W.). London: Nelson.
Ekenberg, T. (2005). Falling freely: Anselm of Canterbury on the will. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Evans, G. R. (1989). Anselm. London: Chapman.
Henry, D. P. (1967). The logic of Saint Anselm. Oxford: Clarendon.
Henry, D. P. (1974). Commentary on De Grammatico: The historical–logical dimensions of a dialogue of St. Anselm’s. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Hick, J., & McGill, A. C. (Eds.). (1967). The many-faced argument: Recent studies on the ontological argument for the existence of God. New York: Macmillan.
Holopainen, T. J. (1996). Dialectic and theology in the eleventh century. Leiden: Brill.
Holopainen, T. J. (2009). The Proslogion in relation to the Monologion. The Heythrop Journal, 50, 590–602.
Hopkins, J. (1972). A companion to the study of St. Anselm. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Kapriev, G. (1998). Ipsa Vita et Veritas. Der ‘Ontologische Gottesbeweis’ und die Ideenwelt Anselms von Canterbury. Leiden: Brill.
Logan, I. (2009). Reading Anselm’s Proslogion: The history of Anselm’s argument and its significance today. Farnham: Ashgate.
Rogers, K. (2008). Anselm on freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schufreider, G. (1994). Confessions of a rational mystic: Anselm’s early writings. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press.
Smith, A. D. (2014). Anselm’s other argument. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Southern, R. W. (1963). Saint Anselm and his biographer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Southern, R. W. (1990). Saint Anselm: A portrait in a landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sweeney, E. (2012). Anselm of Canterbury and the desire for the word. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.
Visser, S., & Williams, T. (2009). Anselm. New York: Oxford University Press.
Websites
Jasper Hopkins’ homepage. (n.d.). http://jasper-hopkins.info/. Includes links to the translations of Anselm’s works by Hopkins and Richardson (2000), essays on Anselm by Hopkins as well as a bibliography of recent work.
Saint Anselm Journal (n.d.). https://www.anselm.edu/academics/faculty-academic-centers/institute-saint-anselm-studies/saint-anselm-journal. A refereed e-journal.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Holopainen, T.J. (2018). Anselm of Canterbury. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_31-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_31-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-1151-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-1151-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities