Why Did Anselm Decide To Answer The Question Of God Essay

In the text, Cur Deus Homo, St. Anselm of Canterbury is being asked to try to answer a very important question. This question is: “why did God, and for what reason did God, become man?” Anselm addresses this question because the people want to find delight in the understanding and contemplation of what they already believe, and also to be “ready always to satisfy everyone that asks them a reason of what hope which is in us” (Book 1). Nonbelievers who deride Christian simplicity as absurd also throw out this question. Anselm also says that it is not only the learned who want the question about why God became man answered, but the unlearned want the question answered as well. Boso, the disputant, wants Anselm to answer this question to not just believe his faith, but to also have a better understanding. Anselm is nervous about trying to explain because he believes the topic is so much greater than human intellect, and that he will not be able to do the topic justice. The questioned posed is also difficult to answer because one must know about power,
If this were not the case, sin would remain outside the rule of order, and God leaves no disorder in His kingdom, therefore, this cannot be true. After Anselm’s arguments as to what individuals owe to God to pay for human being sins, Boso concludes humans cannot be saved on their own. This means Christ is necessary for salvation. Anselm believes the solution is faith working through love, and that this works for those who awaited Christ or believe in Him. Anselm also believes prayer to God will help to arrive at the goal for which human kind was created and desire for, which is eternal happiness with God (Book 1, Section 20). It is not proper for human beings to treat God as an equal. Every human owes a debt to God for the sins they have committed, but He does not owe us anything since He is so much greater (Book 1, Section