Anselm of Canterbury

Grant that I may taste by love, what I apprehend by knowledge, that I may feel in my heart what I touch in the Spirit. (Anselm of Canterbury, Meditations on Human Redemption)

Anselm Ministries draws its name from an eleventh century monk and theologian who had a profound impact on Christianity. It has adopted his motto – Faith Seeking Understanding – and uses the above prayer from his writings as its vision statement.

Anselm (1033–1109) was an eleventh century monk and theologian who had a profound impact on Christianity. Despite almost one thousand years since his life and death, his thinking remains fresh; speaking to many of the spiritual issues of our day. His was a teaching and, in the context of the time, a “biblical counseling” ministry of discipleship where he strove to promote the spiritual and intellectual growth of those who believed as he did in God as “something than which nothing greater can be thought.” The following brief biography was taken largely from the introduction of the Oxford World’s Classics edition of Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works.

Anselm was born in northern Italy in 1033 and came to the monastery of Bec in 1059 to study under Lefranc as an ‘external’ student. He soon decided to become an ‘internal’ student and joined the brotherhood of monks at Bec. In 1063 when Lefranc left to become abbot of the monastery of Saint Etienne, Anselm replaced him as the principle teacher at Bec. He was eventually appointed as abbot of Bec in 1078 and again followed in the footsteps of his mentor Lefranc as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093 where he served until 1109, the year of his death.

After becoming the principle teacher at Bec, Anselm did not encourage the custom of taking on ‘external’ students as he once had been. Rather, Anselm was interested in training the minds of the monks at Bec “in ways that would foster their spiritual as well as their intellectual development.” His first major work, a meditation of the divine essence, directly reflects that concern. The first sentence of Anselm’s Monologion reads: “Of all things that exist, there is one that is supreme.”

His second book, built upon the thoughts expressed in the Monologion, is the Proslogion. Here Anselm puts forth a single argument or proof that God “is the supreme good, needing no other; and is He whom all things have need of for their being and well–being.” This proof was his famous ontological argument for the existence of God: “something than which nothing greater can be thought.” Beginning with his initial premises, one cannot help but to agree with Anselm’s conclusions.

Why Anselm Ministries

We live in a time and culture where a "higher power" is largely self-determined; and can be almost anything greater than we are. George Barna, who has done extensive research into American religious beliefs and culture, found that:

• 67% of all adult Americans claim to have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today (are born again).
• Only 45% strongly agree that the Christian faith is relevant to their lives.
• Even less (41%) say they are absolutely committed to Christianity.
• And a mere 9% of born again Americans have a biblical worldview.
  

A biblical worldview deeply effects people's views on morally acceptable behavior. When comparing those who have a biblical worldview with those who do not, Barna found that someone with a biblical worldview was:

• 31 times less likely to accept cohabitation (2% versus 62%, respectively);
• 18 times less likely to endorse drunkenness (2% versus 36%);
• 15 times less likely to condone gay sex (2% versus 31%);
• 12 times less likely to accept profanity (3% versus 37%); and
• 11 times less likely to say adultery was morally acceptable (4% versus 44%).
  

In addition, less than one-half of one percent of those with a biblical worldview said voluntary exposure to pornography was morally okay (compared to 39% of other adults), and a similarly small proportion endorsed abortion (compared to 46% of adults who lack a biblical worldview).

For more of the primary research and other services available through The Barna Group visit their site.