Wednesday, March 24, 2010

On Anselm: Remembering, Thinking, And Loving

I know Anselm takes some flack for the ontological argument. But it is really only from a partial reading from Chapter 2 of the Proslogion. However, if you reads the intro to the Proslogion you might agree: Anselm would have been appalled at the use of his work in "proving" God. Follow the argument from the prologue and perhaps you might see a different voice from Anselm. Chapters 16-26 are amazing. It's a short work; give it a go and let me know what you think. Anyways, the point is this: Anselm truly loved God, and I sometimes find myself reiterating his thoughts. Consider this excerpts from Chapter 1; they read like a prayer:

"Let me seek you in loving you; let me love you in finding you. Let me find you in loving you; let me love you in finding you. "I acknowledge, Lord, and I thank you, that you have created in me this image of you so that I may remember you, think of you, and love you. Yet this image is so eroded by my vices, so clouded by the smoke of my sins, that it cannot do what i twas created to do unless you renew and refashion it."

- St. Anselm, Proslogion, trans. Thomas Williams (Indianapolis: Hacket Publishing Co.1995).


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