Term Paper on "St. Anselm One of the More Influential"

Term Paper 9 pages (3082 words) Sources: 7 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

St. Anselm

One of the more influential Christian leaders and thinkers of the Medieval era was St. Anselm of Canterbury, a man who helped shape philosophical thought for his era and who also developed the intellectual life of England in the twelfth century.

Anselm was born in 1033 near Aosta, which in those days was a Burgundian town on the frontier with Lombardy. His early life is largely unknown, but he left home when he was 23 and spent some time wandering aimlessly through Burgundy and France, arriving in Normandy in 1059. There, his interest was captured by the Benedictine abbey at Bec, where a famous school under the direction of Lanfranc could be found. Lanfranc was the abbey's prior and was also a scholar and teacher of wide reputation. He had made the school at Bec into an important center of learning, especially in dialectic. In 1060, Anselm entered the abbey as a novice, and he advanced rapidly because of his intellectual and spiritual. In 1063, Lanfranc was appointed abbot of Caen, and Anselm was elected to succeed him as prior. Anselm was then elected abbot in 1078 upon the death of Herluin, the founder and first abbot of Bec. Anselm increased the reputation of Bec as an intellectual center, and he also managed to write a good deal of philosophy and theology in addition to his teaching, administrative duties, and extensive correspondence, given that he served as an adviser and counselor to rulers and nobles all over Europe. In 1093, Anselm became the Archbishop of Canterbury, following his old master Lanfranc, had died four years earlier. Anselm was reluctant to undertake the primacy of the Church of England under then king William, known for plundering the church funds,

Anselm's time as Archbishop was indeed turbulent as William was intent on maintaining royal authority over ecclesiastical affairs and refused to be dictated to by Archbishop or Pope or anyone else. In one case, when Anselm went to Rome in 1097 without the King's permission, William would not allow him to return. William was killed in 1100, after which his successor, Henry I, invited Anselm to return to his see. Still, Henry was just as dedicated to maintaining royal jurisdiction over the Church, and Anselm was again in exile from 1103 to 1107. Through all these troubles, Anselm continued to write. Anselm died in 1109 and was canonized in 1494 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1720 (Williams paras. 1-2).

W.H. Kent writes that about the influence of Anselm as follows:

The sweet influence of his spiritual teaching was felt far and wide, and its fruits were seen in many lands. His stand for the freedom of the Church in a crisis of medieval history had far-reaching effects long after his own time. As a writer and a thinker he may claim yet higher rank, and his influence on the course of philosophy and Catholic theology was even deeper and more enduring if he stands on the one hand with Gregory VII, and Innocent III, and Thomas Becket; on the other he may claim a place beside Athanasius, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas. His merits in the field of theology have received official recognition; he has been declared a Doctor of the Church by Clement XI, 1720, and in the office read on his feast day (21 April) it is said that his works are a pattern for all theologians (Kent para. 8).

However, Kent also notes that Anselm's contribution may not b e fully appreciated by students of divinity today because much of his work "has been hidden by the fabric reared on his foundations" (Kent para. 8). His teachings would be appreciated more after various changes had been made and when scholars examined the history of theology. His contributions were particularly important in the discussion of the ontological argument for the existence of God.

Anselm's contribution to the argument has been controversial, as can be seen from the following assessment by one who sees Anselm as having developed an important concept:

Unless Anselm made (as so many, but not this writer, believe he made) a mere mistake, empirical theism and empirical atheism are alike logical blunders. If belief in the divine existence even makes sense, unbelief does not, and if unbelief makes sense, belief does not. The issue between them is not one of fact or contingent truth but of meaning. One side or the other is confused. Obviously this result, if correct, is of great importance for philosophy and religion. (Hartshorne 4)

Ontology is the branch of philosophy dealing with being or existence, and central to the ontological argument is the concept of existence. Anselm argues that the existence of God is built into the very concept of God, and he uses a form of argument called reductio ad absurdum -- reduction to absurdity - as he attempts to show that the position of the fool -- the non-believer who says "There is no God" -- is incoherent and leads to absurdity (Stairs para. 1). Anselm claims that his argument is an a priori proof of the existence of God, beginning with premises "premises that do not depend on experience for their justification and then proceeds by purely logical means to the conclusion that God exists. His aim is to refute the fool who says in his heart that there is no God" ("Anselm's Ontological Argument" para. 1).

Another area where Anselm made a major contribution was in the consideration of free will. Anselm wrote about both free will and grace and is considered the first philosopher to attempt a systematic analysis of the topics. In terms of grace, he accepts the position that grace is necessary for salvation and that it is also unmerited, an idea that would be accepted later by groups like the Puritans in America (Rogers 66). As one analyst points out, "Anselm defines free will as 'the ability to keep uprightness of will for the sake of uprightness itself' rather than as the ability to sin or not sin" (Tyvoll para. 1)

Definitions of free will are set forth by the Teacher in his conversation with the student in Anselm's De Libertate Arbitrii. Anselm writes, "The ability to keep uprightness-of-will for the sake of this uprightness itself is the complete definition of freedom of choice" (Anselm 124). Free will in this regarded is synonymous with freedom of choice. Free will, in other words, is meaningless unless and until it is exercised in choice.

Anselm is not concerned with the frivolous exercise of an individual's free will but rather with those choices which affect the individual spiritually, those decisions which either align him with God's will or which turn him away from God's will and lead him to sin. Sin in this view is the exercise of free will separate from the influence of what Anselm comes to call the "justice" of God. There is thus a steady development of Anselm's philosophy from the first definition of free will to the last clarification of this aspect of free will as related to justice (Anselm 222).

With reference to free will, Anselm states that God has given this as a gift to man, and with it God has given as well a sense of how to use that free will so the individual can keep that will aligned with the will of God and with His plan for goodness, uprightness, justice, and so on. For free will to be truly free, man must have the liberty to exercise it separate from God's control. At the same time, if God gives this free will as a gift to man, as Anselm says He has done, and also gives him no internal guidance with respect to how to use this free will, God would be giving a lost child a compass and no directions on how to use it to find his way home. Free will, then, is only partially free. On the other hand, without this internal guidance, this sense of right and wrong, free will would merely result in complete chaos in the world of human beings. Free will is therefore a relative liberty, shaped and defined by the guidance that God provides.

Anselm argue that although man is able to use his free will in order to sin, in order to disalign his will from the will of God, man is not able to cut himself off entirely from the knowledge that he is sinning. He therefore has to make the evil choice, to choose that he is suffering, and to choose that he is separate from the will of God, and so on. For Anselm, this is a necessary quality of the free will, for it the sinner were able forevermore to cut himself off from the will of God by completely immersing himself in sin, then he would no longer have free will: Though they were able to serve sin, sin was not able to master them" (Anselm 106).

Anselm… READ MORE

How to Reference "St. Anselm One of the More Influential" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Spirituality and Depression What Is Spirituality? Thesis

Spirituality and Depression

What is Spirituality?

The absence of an adequate definition of spirituality is perhaps one reason why researchers have difficulty identifying the role of spirituality in the treatment… read more

Thesis 21 pages (6620 words) Sources: 20 Topic: Psychology / Behavior / Psychiatry

---

Augustine City of God Research Proposal

City of God Augustine

Though the context of the "church father" Augustus is historically associated with his life and times, 354-430, his influence was not significant until later. This observation… read more

Research Proposal 11 pages (2968 words) Sources: 6 Style: MLA Topic: Religion / God / Theology

---

Metaphysics of Avicenna and Augustine of Hippo Term Paper

Apart from this Gen 2:4 and Ps 32:933 together build up a solid counter-argument against natural processes as Augustine deems that vegetation takes its time to grow and nurture into… read more

Term Paper 8 pages (2891 words) Sources: 10 Style: Chicago Topic:

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>