Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033-1109) · CatalogAnselm of CanterburyAnselm of Canterbury (c. 1033-1109) · CatalogMonk of Bec and archbishop of Canterbury; philosopher of faith seeking understanding.
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Anselm of Canterbury
c. 1033-1109 · Monk of Bec and archbishop of Canterbury; philosopher of faith seeking understanding
Anselm (c. 1033–1109) was born in Aosta in northern Italy and became a monk at the abbey of Bec in Normandy, where he was later prior and abbot. In 1093 he was made archbishop of Canterbury and was twice exiled during disputes with English kings over the rights of the Church. He described his work as faith seeking understanding, and his writings, including the Monologion, the Proslogion and Why God Became Man, made him one of the founders of medieval scholastic theology.
The Proslogion is a short Latin work in twenty-six chapters, written by Anselm at the abbey of Bec in 1077 and 1078. In the preface Anselm explains that after writing the Monologion, a long chain of arguments about God, he looked for a single argument that would by itself prove that God exists and is the supreme good.