📖 Biblical Definition
Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) was an Italian-born Benedictine monk who became Archbishop of Canterbury under William II. His Cur Deus Homo (Why God Became Man) gave the medieval and Reformation churches their classic satisfaction theory of the atonement: human sin offends God’s infinite honor, and only a sacrifice of infinite worth — therefore the God-man — can satisfy what is owed. The argument is the seedbed of Reformed penal substitution. His Proslogion contained the first formulation of the ontological argument for God’s existence ("that than which nothing greater can be conceived"). His motto, "fides quaerens intellectum" ("faith seeking understanding"), still names the right posture of Christian theology — never faith fleeing reason, never reason without faith.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Archbishop of Canterbury (1033-1109); medieval theologian; author of Cur Deus Homo.
expand to see more
Born in Aosta (Italy); monk at Bec (Normandy); Archbishop of Canterbury 1093, in conflict with Norman kings William II and Henry I over investiture.
Cur Deus Homo (1098) argued the necessity of the Incarnation: only a God-man could satisfy the infinite debt of human sin. Proslogion developed the ontological argument: God's existence follows from the very concept of God.
📖 Key Scripture
Hebrews 2:14 — "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same."
Hebrews 7:26 — "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."
Psalm 14:1 — "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
1 Peter 3:18 — "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern theology often dismisses Anselm's satisfaction theory; the Reformers built on it directly, and the New Testament's logic supports it.
expand to see more
Anselm's argument: sin is infinite offense against an infinite God; finite humans cannot satisfy infinite debt; only a God-man can pay infinite debt with infinite worth. The Incarnation is therefore not arbitrary but necessary for redemption.
The Reformers retained the satisfaction core (Calvin in Institutes II) and refined it with penal-substitution language. The arc from Anselm to the Reformation runs through Aquinas and the late-medieval doctors.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Lombardic name; medieval Anglo-Norman context.
expand to see more
Lombardic Anselm — divine helmet; Ans (god) plus helm.
Note: fides quaerens intellectum — faith seeking understanding — is his methodological motto.
Usage
"Faith seeking understanding."
"Sin is infinite offense; only a God-man can satisfy infinite debt."
"The Reformers retained the satisfaction core."