Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury, a monk of 11th century, defined the term ‘theology’ as “faith seeking understanding”. It is a process of understanding the nature of God and one’s own faith. In this light, theology classes, for example, in Theology 121, integrate the two main processes of understanding God: faith and reasoning. In Catholic theology, the faith towards God and the reasoning to find the truth are in conjunction with each other. By this kind of analysis, theology does not only encompass on the study of faith on God and on the enlightenment on life, but also on the endeavors of the society. God, I have questions. Despite my belief in God, there are many questions and doubts about my relationship with God. One such question is: Despite God…

The difference being that angels, although living in eternity, were not before for all else that is, which is only God. So angels are created spiritual beings and because of this they are limited, they have a beginning. This is contemplated by Saint Anselm when he says, “Therefore, since it is not the case that anything is greater than You, no place or time restricts You, but You exist everywhere and always. Because this can be said of You alone, You alone are unlimited and eternal.”…

Theists think that it is ridiculous that the Universe can exist without a cause, and, have come to the assumption that the universe was created by God, who exists without a cause, complete with a range of intrinsic traits and values. We can see that although theists believe in god(s) and atheists don 't, both have some similar assumptions about how the universe came to exist. St Anselm (1033-1109), who was the Catholic archbishop of Canterbury and a Doctor of the Church, first created the…

St. Anselm of Canterbury came up with an argument which attempts to prove the existence of God by proving the apparent absurdity of the atheist opinion. Anselm contrasts the ideas of existing in the understanding and existing in reality to show that God must truly exist in reality. The earliest critic of the ontological argument is a monk from Marmoutier named Gaunilo who believed that we can use logic to prove things that we have no reason to believe to be true. Gaunilo believed that he could…

So, by its very nature, the supremely perfect being must exist. The ontological argument gives us ideas for some other properties that must be possessed by the supremely perfect being. This being must be omnipotent. If it weren 't, a more powerful being would be greater than the greatest being. Using this mechanism, St. Anselm identified other properties that are intrinsic to the nature of a supremely great being. This being must be ultimately just. This being must be ultimately good. This being…

then and there at that second. God is outside of time meaning he is eternal. Augustine then admits that Gods knowledge of the world entails necessity, to deny that is incompatible with freedom (Palmer, 118). He believes that freedom is the capacity to do what you want when you want even if God already knows what you want (Palmer, 118). I do agree with Saint Augustine`s way of thinking. I have actually thought about the fact that God determines every choice we make in life and this reasoning…

The Ontological Argument and Pascal’s Wager The “Ontological Argument” was created by Saint Anselm; this argument is in support of God’s existence. His argument is one based on observation and reason not on empirical evidence and is spit in to three parts. The parts include why god exists, why god cannot be thought to not exist, and lastly why atheists are able to think that God does not exist. In the first section he begins with a definition of God that he believes everyone would be accepting…

It is greater to exist in intelectu and in re than in intelectu alone 4. A being than which no greater can be conceived can’t exist just in intelectu, since a greater being could be conceived that exists both in re and in intelectu 5. Therefore God must exist in the intelectu and in re Anslem then goes on to state that God does not rely on anything else for his existence, making him a necessary being, whose existence is solely based off his essence. In comparison to everything else which relies…

Beshoy Hanna The existence of God Essay 3 The existence of God has come into question since the beginning of time. Throughout history, philosophers have searched for an answer to creation. How did the earth appear? Who is responsible? Why did they create humans, where do we come from and how did we get here? Regardless of the many theories, most thinkers manage to agree on one thing; there is some superior being responsible for Creation. I will explore the philosophies presented by St. Thomas…

The Ontological argument, written by philosopher St. Anselm of Canterbury in his book the Proslogion in the eleventh century, is a metaphysical argument for the existence of God in reality. In this essay I will discuss the validity of this argument. In this text Anselm states that the concept of God has the necessary and sufficient condition of being maximally perfect- ‘that than which a greater cannot be thought’- and that, since existing in reality is greater than existing only conceptually,…