Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury OSB (Latin Anselm cantuariensis; Anselmo de Candia Ginevra, even after his birthplace Anselm of Aosta Anselm of Bec for his monastery called; * to 1033 in Aosta, † April 21, 1109 in Canterbury ) was a theologian and philosopher of the middle Ages. He is often regarded as the father ("Father " ) of scholasticism and is the main representative of early scholasticism.

Life

Anselm was born in Aosta in 1033, which had fallen by the time of his birth to the Counts of Savoy. At 15, he sought admission to a nearby monastery, but this was denied him, probably because his father had provided a political career for him. At 23, Anselm left his home and moved three years by France until he is attracted by the fame Lanfrancs, the Benedictine Abbey Le Bec came. After some hesitation, he resigned a year later, in 1060, in this abbey. Just three years later he was elected Prior, another 15 years later Dept. During this time he also won his philosophical and theological works, especially his two famous writings Monologion and Proslogion.

When Lanfranc, now Archbishop of Canterbury, died in 1089, Anselm was favored by many to be his successor, but it was only in 1093 by William II put into office. In the following four years, the two as representatives of secular and ecclesiastical power contributed to each other from the Investiture Controversy in England. In 1097 Anselm was given permission to visit Rome, where he hoped to help, but he received only a limited extent. The return to England he was denied by William, why Anselm lived from 1097 until William's death in 1100 in Lyon in exile.

Under his successor, Henry I. Anselm was able to return to England, but had to go from 1103 to 1007 once more into exile. After returning to England, he died in 1109.

Anselm was canonised in 1494 and 1720 by Clement XI. appointed Doctor of the Church.

Teaching

Anselm formulated in the preface to the Proslogion in two widely cited sets one of the basic positions of scholasticism, it uses to determine the relationship between faith and reason:

  • Fides quaerens intellectum - "Faith, looking for insight"
  • Credo ut intelligam - "I believe that I understand "

Spillover effects also had Anselm's ontological proof of God, which is also in the Proslogion, actually a meditation on the nature of God is located. He is one of the most debated arguments in the history of philosophy. Philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, Descartes and Kant sat critically so. The central argument is the proposition that God is " that about which nothing greater can be thought " ( aliquid quo nihil majus cogitari potest ).

In Cur Deus Homo font he represents the doctrine that salvation through Christ is to be understood as the satisfaction of the righteous wrath of God through the death of Christ ( doctrine of satisfaction ). Some of this doctrine is later seen as one of the foundations of the Reformation, but was rejected in the Orthodox Church.

It is also known to be armed with John Roscelin, he having regarded as extreme nominalist.

Of his other writings, especially the Monologion in which he also tries to deduce the existence of God, together with its properties are (see also Natural theology ), and the treatise De Veritate, which deals not only with the truth, but also with the justice, to call.

His feast day in the Catholic (no optional memorial ), Protestant and Anglican Church April 21. The encyclical Rerum Communium by Pope Pius X on 21 April 1909, dedicated to the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Anselm of Aosta.

Critical is noted to Anselm that he had " for the first time in Western Christianity," the danger of a conjured " deductive rationalism ".

Works

  • Monologion ( God and the Trinity )
  • Proslogion
  • Liber contra insipientem also Liber contra Gaunilonem Apology (defense and supplementing the ontological proof of God of the Proslogion )
  • De Grammatico (including distinction between significatio (sense) and appelatio (meaning) )
  • De Veritate ( On Truth )
  • De libertate arbitrii
  • De casu diaboli ( about the origin of evil )
  • De fide et trinitatis incarnatione verbi ( against Roscelin v. Compiègne )
  • Cur Deus Homo ( 1094 begun in 1098 completed in exile in Capua )
  • De conceptu et originali peccato virginali (treated the question of how the Son of God had to be human, without becoming a sinner )
  • De concordia praescientiae et praedestinationis et gratiae Dei cum libero arbitrio ( dogmatic writings )
  • Homilies
  • Meditations
  • Orations
  • Letters

Remembrance

  • Evangelical: April 21 (Evangelical Church in Germany, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod )
  • Anglican: April 21
  • Roman Catholic: April 21 (not optional memorial in the English regional calendar, optional memorial for Trappists and Cistercians )
Order of Saint Benedict Bec Abbey William II of England Henry I of England Pope Clement XI Jesus Satisfaction theory of atonement Protestant Reformation Roscellinus Eadmer Alberto Jori Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke Zeno.org Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Integrated Authority File
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