Order and Rightness in the thought of Anselm of Canterbury Anonymous College

In a theological age conscious of the damage inflicted by sin upon human reason, Anselm of Canterbury emerges as one of its greatest champions. Though his maintenance of the primacy of faith never wavered, his project was one of using the tool of reason to expound faith, and he was bold in his use of it. As Anselm writes in his Proslogion, 'I believe so that I may understand.' It is Anselm's desire to impose reasoned argument onto theology that prompts his investigation, and subsequent understanding, of God's nature, of Christology, soteriology, and truth. Even a cursory glance at Anselm's hypotheses reveals that what underpins the entirety of his doctrine, is an adherence to the notion of 'fittingness'- understanding God, the universe and our place in it through the lens of 'appropriateness.' In this essay, I will endeavour to engage with Anselm's concept of fittingness in relation to sister concepts such as order, rightness and justice, and seek to sustain the line of argument that these principles underwrite Anselm's entire theological system; it is through this idea of divine order that Anselm defines God- what his nature must be like in order to comply, or fit, with the universal structure God has himself created- and even...