St. Anselm (1033-1109), bishop of Canterbury, is perhaps most famous and known for his setting forth of the ontological argument for God's existence in The Proslogion. It is simply this: That God is that than which nothing greater or better can be conceived.
He wrote during his mature years what has come to be a very influential work: Why God Became Man. In the preface to this work, he tells the reader how he's arranged the work into two books and what each book is about. Book 1 provides the objections of unbelievers who repudiate the faith because they suppose that it militates against reason and the answers of the faithful to such objections. Anselm asserts that "it proves, by unavoidable logical steps," that without Christ it is impossible that anyone could be saved. Book 2 proposes that even if nothing were known of Christ it can be demonstrated "with no less clear logic and truth" that the aim for which God made humanity--that "the whole human being should enjoy blessed immortality"--makes it inevitable that the outcome for which man was originally created should become a reality. And this outcome, moreover, could only come to pass through the agency of a God-man. And so, he says, "it is from necessity that all the things which we believe about Christ have come to pass."
No comments:
Post a Comment