Anselm of Canterbury on Pure Perfections

2008 ◽  
pp. 233-248
Author(s):  
Manoel Vasconcellos
Keyword(s):  
Anselm Of Canterbury

Deepened Monotheism. Philosophical Reasoning on the Trinity in Western Early Medieval and Classic Arabic Theology

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-264
Author(s):  
Katrin König
Keyword(s):  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Religious Context ◽  
Latin West ◽  
Syrian Orthodox ◽  
Anselm Of Canterbury ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Rational Arguments

SummaryChristian theologians can explain the Trinitarian faith today in dialogue with Islamic thinkers as “deepened monotheism”. Therefore it is important to widen the systematic-theological discourse in an ecumenical and transcultural perspective and to retrieve resources from Western and non-Western traditions of Trinitarian thought (I).In this paper I will first work out historically that the Trinitarian creed of Nicea and Constantinople was originally an ecumenical but non-Western creed (II). Afterwards, I investigate the philosophical-theological reflection on the Trinity by Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) in the context of early interreligious encounters in the Latin West. Based on biblical, augustinian and Greek sources, he developed an approach to understand the mystery of the Trinity by rational arguments as “deepened monotheism” (III). Then I will proceed to explore the philosophical-theological dialogues on the Trinity from the Arabic philosopher and Syrian-orthodox theologian Yaḥyā ibn ‘Adī (893–974). Much earlier he developed rational arguments for the Triunity of God with reference to Aristotle. Thereby he answers to anti-trinitarian arguments from Islamic thinkers like al-Kindī and al-Warrāq. He intends that the Trinitarian faith of Christian minorities can thereby be understood and tolerated by Islamic thinkers as rationally founded “deepened monotheism” (IV).In the end I will evaluate what these classics from the Western and non-western traditions of Trinitarian thought contribute to explicate the doctrine of the Trinity today in a pluralistic religious context as “deepened monotheism” (V).

scholarly journals A Vindication of Desire: St Anselm, with C. S. Lewis

2021 ◽  
pp. 001258062110167
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Christian Life ◽  
Gregory The Great ◽  
Moral Perfection ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Anselm Of Canterbury ◽  
The World ◽  
Mutual Interest

Despite different starting points, in the cloister and the world respectively, Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) and C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) enjoyed a mutual interest in the concept and experience of spiritual desire. Inspired by Lewis’ famous sermon, ‘The Weight of Glory’ (1941), but principally guided by Anselm’s reflections, this essay argues that desire exists in a dynamic relationship with love and that, as a journey of desire, the Christian life is extremely challenging, since it is a journey into mystery and towards moral perfection, but also contains and ultimately fulfils God’s promise of eternal joy. It is hoped that one by-product of this exploration may be to accord greater recognition to Anselm as a spiritual, even mystical, theologian, recognising him in Jean Leclercq’s description of an earlier monastic leader, Gregory the Great (d. 604), as a ‘doctor of desire’.

Triple is the Word

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Panaccio
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Medieval Philosophy ◽  
Anselm Of Canterbury ◽  
Spoken Words ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Number Of Authors

This chapter focuses on the use of the idea of mental discourse in Latin medieval philosophy from the late `eleventh to the mid-thirteenth century. A crucial passage from Anselm of Canterbury is first examined in some details. It is then shown how the idea occurred within a surprising variety of threefold distinctions in quite a number of authors. The notion that the object of grammar as a science is some sort of ‘language in the mind’ (sermo in mente) is also discussed. What comes out is that the Ancient philosophical tradition of the logos endiathetosand the Augustinian tradition of the verbum in mente are now being brought together in various ways and that an important Augustinian distinction between internal discourse properly speaking and the mental representation of spoken words and sentences has become commonly accepted.

God and his Attributes

Gersonides ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 59-80
Author(s):  
Seymour Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Existence Of God ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
Anselm Of Canterbury ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
Religiously Based ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
Basic Beliefs

This chapter explains how the existence of God is philosophically provable. It adopts the terminology of Thomas Aquinas about some of the basic beliefs of monotheistic religion. In attempting to delineate the distinct domain of theology, Aquinas distinguished between the “preambles of faith” and the “articles of faith.” This chapter analyzes the underlying assumption that human reason can prove and explain some of the basic beliefs of monotheistic religion. Not only does it discuss the common ground for philosophy and faith, but it explains monotheistic religions without religiously based assumptions. It describes the ontological proof of Anselm of Canterbury and points out various arguments about the world and how they cannot be explained without positing the existence of God.

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