Conslogion St Anselm Analysis

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In Saint Anselm’s Proslogion, Saint Anselm discusses his ideas and beliefs about God’s existence. In the opening chapter, Anselm defines what it means to contemplate God. In order to contemplate God we must want to unburden ourselves and allow God to be a part of our life. Once one can find faith in God, they can begin to start questioning God’s nature and his existence. Anselm’s purpose for writing The Proslogion was to inform God’s followers of his existence through reasoning, discussing contradictions, and re-evaluating our interpretations of scripture. Anselm’s first few chapters focus on discovering the existence of God through thought and reason. Saint Anselm defines God as ‘something which nothing greater can be thought’. Anselm claims …show more content…

A popular argument against the existence of God is the idea that God is both merciful and impassible. But how could this be possible if these words both mean the opposite? Anselm says the answer lies in how we view God as our savior. In our eyes, God is merciful because he forgives those who sin and saves us, but God is not merciful according to God’s experience because he shows the wretched no mercy, “You are merciful because You save [us] wretched [creatures] and spare [us] who have sinned against You; and You are not merciful, because You do not experience compassion for wretchedness” (Anselm, Proslogion 8). The same could be said about God’s existence as a just being who spares evil. How could you one be just if they spare evil? The answer is that he is justly merciful to them because he possesses the ability to turn bad men into good men, “Therefore, if You were not justly merciful to those who are evil, it would be the case that You ought not to be merciful [to them]; and if You ought not to be merciful, then You are unjustly merciful. Now, if it is blasphemous to say this, then it is right to believe that You are justly merciful to those who are evil.” (Anselm, Proslogion

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