Anselm of Canterbury: philosophy, basic ideas, quotations, years of life, biography briefly

Now it's hard to believe, but a thousand years ago a man appeared on the earth who changed people's ideas about God. He forced the Christian world to learn how to live according to the Holy Scriptures, explained much of what was considered above the understanding of the ordinary layman. Anselm of Canterbury, thanks to his erudition, piety and sincerity, managed to change the point of view of the majority of the Scholastics.

God's mercy

He was born in a fairly wealthy family. They did not live in poverty, they did not know hardship, such as, for example, hunger. But the nine-year-old boy had a dream that the Lord was talking to him and asked him to go up to the highest mountain in those places, and then break bread with him. It was such a vivid impression that a child who never needed anything, remembered him for many years.

The boy did not have time to enter the time of his youth, as his mother suddenly dies, leaving his father so inconsolable that, hardened by grief, he pushes anger at his son. Unable to withstand such treatment, Anselm leaves the house with an old servant, who felt sorry for the boy. They cross the mountains on foot and go to France. The travelers were so hungry that the guy started to eat snow. In despair, his companion looks in the bag, waiting there to see emptiness, but instead he finds a hunk of white bread. Such an explicit manifestation of God's mercy once again proves to the young man that he must devote himself to the church.

Monastery of the Virgin Mary

Three years after the start of their joint journey, our pilgrims get to the monastery, which is under the patronage of the famous priest and scholar Lanfranc. There is also a school here that is able to give the best education in Europe to anyone who is willing to learn and who will ask for it. Naturally, Anselm happily bites into the granite of science, and soon becomes the best student. In another ten years he decides to take monastic vows and live a righteous life. For the standard, they took the lives of saints who spent their days praying for humanity, fasted constantly and taught others to live according to the law of God.

Priest

Lanfranca is transferred to another monastery, and Anselm of Canterbury becomes a new priest. During this period, he formed ideas, then displayed in books on theology. Philosophical questions concerning the cause of the Savior's sacrifice, the instrument of knowledge of the world, are occupied by his thoughts. The interpretation of these sentences, both philosophically and from the point of view of theology, gives the Canterbury preacher recognition of the public.

Cognition: faith or supreme intelligence?

According to the surviving documents, Anselm of Canterbury, whose ideas were so actively and enthusiastically accepted by the church, believed that for knowledge it is necessary to believe, because if the world was born out of the idea of someone great, only faith can help understand its intent. This statement, somewhat controversial at first glance, immediately received supporters who were able to convince everyone else of its truth. Besides from this maxim it was possible to deduce another, that the concept of God is born simultaneously with the person and already exists in him - consequently, God exists too.

Archbishop of Canterbury

The successful campaign of William the Conqueror to capture Britain brought to the Celtic land and Christianity, backed by fire and sword. Together with him the priest Lanfranc came to bear the light of true faith. Anselm often visited his teacher and liked the local population. So when Lanfranc's office ended in connection with his untimely death, the people demanded that he be the next bishop. So he became Anselm of Canterbury.

The years of life in Foggy Albion were not always easy. After William the Conqueror, a new king came, not wishing to listen to sermons from anyone else and immediately confronted with a candidate for the office of bishop. The long four years were their confrontation, and now, on his deathbed, Wilhelm gives his consent to the appointment of Anselm. Soon after this decision was taken, the illness, which had been tormenting the sovereign for a long time, receded, and the demise was postponed indefinitely.

Introduction to the post

By the nature of his modest man, Anselm of Canterbury, whose philosophy did not allow him to lead other people, long refused his rank. All the more he was disgusted with all the honors associated with this event. Love for pomposity was not peculiar to him. Therefore, he did not receive the bishop's staff from the hands of the king, de facto not recognizing the spiritual office appointed by the worldly ruler.

He also rebelled against Simonia, that is, the sale of church posts, which significantly replenished the treasury of the church. At his post he stayed short, exactly as long as he was waiting for appointment - four years. After this time, unable to withstand the pressure from the king, he went into exile, voluntarily, realizing what exactly he was doing and refusing. Anselm of Canterbury, whose biography is full of unexpected twists of fate, returned to England only ten years later. During this time, he managed to sow grains of doubt in the minds of many clerics of Europe, and struggle for investment, i.e. Appointment to church offices, unfolded everywhere.

Last years

In the end, both sides came to an amicable agreement, which indicated that just as bishops would respect worldly power, the kings would also give the privilege of handing over the spiritual symbols of the Church.

Anselm of Canterbury, whose basic ideas were simple, understandable and accessible to any person, died in 1109 in England, and three centuries later he was canonized and listed as a saint.

The presence of God in every person

This idea from the church was haunted by the idea of how simply it is possible to prove the existence of God. Yes, so that everything was logical and understandable. This thought haunted the future bishop. Anselm of Canterbury briefly defined God so, something beyond which it is impossible to conceive anything. This statement will be clear even to a person completely unacquainted with religious teachings, and hence, the understanding of God is present in each of us since birth. Therefore, God exists, because it is logically impossible to think about the fact that he is not. This hypothesis was overly debatable and radical for that time, and not all were ready to accept it. Later, in his Critique of Pure Reason, Kant refutes it.

Evidence of the existence of God

1. Good and Good exist both in the context of the acts of God, and independently of him in various spheres of being, as Anselm of Canterbury argued. His main ideas boiled down to thinking about the many-sided nature of God. In this case, this is the essence of Good.
2. Any thing has its own cause. And what is our world, if not the sum of things? The world is also in some way a thing, and must also have a cause. So, the power that can create such an amazing "thing" is God.
3. Each subject has its own degree of perfection, which can be compared with others. And if there is comparative perfection, that is incomparable. Here it will be God.
4. This idea repeats the thought theory of the existence of God. Once, even in the turbid brain of a mentally ill person, there is a thought of a being above which nothing can be conceived, this is God.

These four proofs were brought out by Anselm of Canterbury (the biography was briefly outlined in this article). Even in France, he began to come up with similar ideas. They crystallized, there were reasonable and logical explanations, and lined up in a harmonious formula for the existence of God.

More details about these evidences can be found in the treatise titled "Prolozhium", which is entirely devoted to ideas about the peculiarities of human thinking, the influence of faith on this process and the intervention of God.

A priori and a posteriori statements

All the evidence of the existence of God Anselm of Canterbury divides into those that are based on experience and those that are accepted regardless of whether it exists. To a posteriori, he listed those that were known even in the time of Plato and were actively used by the servants of the church to guide their flock on the true path. All such statements are reduced to one thing: observing the nature and development of life in it, it is impossible to deny the thought that all this is rewarded by God and has a higher plan. Therefore, the Creator exists.

Anselm of Canterbury, whose philosophy could not be satisfied only by a mediated understanding of God, found a priori evidence of his existence. Everything turned out to be much simpler if we take it for granted that God only accommodates the positive qualities observed in nature. Since existence is also a positive characteristic, it exists. We think of God as perfect, and therefore existing. Thus, the proof of the existence of God is derived from the very concept of God.

It is through this evidence that Anselm of Canterbury entered the history of philosophy and theology. Philosophy, whose main ideas were focused on finding evidence of the existence of God, affected many aspects of human existence. In his writings, he helped to understand the intricacies and ornate of church teaching.

Anselm of Canterbury was one of the most famous saints of his time. He has come a long way from a boy to whom God's grace has descended, to a bishop who has authority over the minds of his flock, but does not abuse it. So we see now how Anselm of Canterbury lived and worked. Quotations from his treatises are still used by the servants of the church, despite the fact that philosophers have refuted this evidence of the existence of God.