Anselm of Canterbury: The Man Behind the Argument - Christian Biographies

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Ontological Argument, Satisfaction Theory, Cur Deus Homo, Proslogium, and many more are often how people become familiar with Anselm. This video seeks to give the context behind many of these great writings and arguments. Anselm’s life was much more than an argument or a theory, and when you understand the passion he had behind what he did, the writings take on a slightly different light. In this video, you will be introduced to:

0:00 Introduction
0:28 Early Life
2:44 Introduction to Bec
5:17 Proslogium and Ontological Argument
9:15 Establishing and Connecting:
10:34 Anselm of Canterbury:
12:06 First Exile
12:33 Cur Deus Homo
14:22 Henry and Anselm
15:36 Second Exile
16:39 Final Years
16:57 Anselm’s Impact

Anselm was born in Aosta to a religious mother and an abusive father. On top of this, at the age of 12, his mother passed away. One of the things that helped young Anselm get through this was his belief in God. This is shown in a dream he had at a young age. He went hiking up the mountains surrounding Aosta to meet God, and after being upset at the other workers, he meets God and everything else falls away as he sits at the feet of God and is amazed. But after he awoke and grew older he found a local monastery and sought to become a monk. This would not happen though as his father would never give his consent. Being stuck with his father, he decided that he was going to roam around the Holy Roman Empire.

After years of roaming, he started to head to Bec in Normandy. Bec at this time was trying to become a center for monastic learning led by Lanfranc a prominent Christian theologian at this time. After Anselm arrived at Bec, Lanfranc met him and saw a spark within the young man, and after the death of Anselm’s father, he entered the abbey of Bec. Anselm grew rapidly in knowledge and rank at Bec. Once Lanfranc was sent to Canterbury later by William the Conqueror, and the original founder of the abbey of Bec, Anselm was elected to become the new abbey of Bec.
It was at this time that Bec truly became the center of monastic learning. One of the best examples of this is the writing known as Proslogium from Anselm. He had written the Monologium earlier but felt that there had to be another way of talking about God. After thinking for a while he came to the idea of God as a necessary being. He famously wrote God was the “being that whom no greater being can be conceived.” This argument would later be known as the ontological argument, but it would be a philosophical argument that people still debate today.

Things began to change though when both William the Conqueror and Lanfranc passed away. On top of this the new King, Rufus, would not name Anselm the new bishop of Canterbury. Finally, after a severe illness, Anselm helped Rufus get through it and Rufus repaid him by appointing him the new bishop of Canterbury. Things would never work amazing though, and it wasn’t too long until Anselm found himself exiled by Rufus. In this exile though is when he wrote his most famous work “Cur Deus Homo.” In this work, he explained a theory about the incarnation that framed the sacrifice as a debt to be owed. He argues that with sin, humanity incurred an infinite debt to God. Because there is this infinite death, the sacrifice within Jesus must make up this infinite debt. If Jesus was only man his death would not be enough to repay the debt, and if Jesus was only divine then he would not actually need to pay the debt.

Not too long after this, Rufus passed away and Henry I became the new King. He sought to repair the broken relationships that had occurred under Rufus’s reign. This was semi-good news for Anselm as within this new relationship he was able to create new Reforms in England, and had the support of Henry. This would bite him in the back as Pope Paschal II exiled him and many others who had been close with Henry. Henry finally relented and came to a decision with Paschal and Anselm which allowed everyone to be restored. In the final years of Anselm’s life, he worked to create Canterbury as the most influential church in England.

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