Anselm – Archbishop of Canterbury
Essay title: Anselm – Archbishop of Canterbury
Anselm (1033-1109), archbishop of Canterbury was the first to set forth a systematic argument for the necessity of Christs atoning death on the cross. His Cur Deus Homo? (1094-1098) attempted to provide rational explanations for the Christians belief in the atonement in dialectic form. The treatise presents a discussion between Anselm and one Boso (abbot of Bec; 1124-1136), with whom Anselm had much contact and correspondence, and who is said by Anselm to be “the one who among the rest presses me more urgently to debate with me,” (Cur, I.1). Anselm seeks to respond to “many earnest requests that I should commit to writing the proofs of a particular doctrine of our faith,” namely: “For what reason or necessity did God become man and, as we believe and confess, by his death restore life to the world, when he could have done this through another person (angelic or human), or even by a sheer act of will?” (I.1)
Cur Deus Homo? is divided into two books, the first of which “contains the objections of unbelievers who reject the Christian faith because they regard it as contrary to reason, along with the answers of believers. It ends by proving by necessary reasons (Christ being put out of sight, as if nothing had ever been known of him) that it is impossible for any man to be saved without him. In the