Anselm and Phil of Religion

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) is one of the central figures of the Christian philosophical tradition. He developed the idea of "faith seeking understanding" and offered rich accounts of the divine nature, the Trinity, human free choice and the fall, the Atonement, and many other topics; he remains an important influence on contemporary philosophers of religion and philosophical theologians. In this course we will carefully examine most of Anselm's treatises (his corpus of writings is of a manageable size). We will also look at contemporary work that takes Anselm as an inspiration, whether in developing his ideas or in reacting against them.