This is the final paper that I turned in for my Church History class on two atonement views: the classic "satisfaction atonement" of Anselm of Canterbury and the "theological anthropology" of René Girard.
Continue reading "Atonement in the Thought of Anselm of Canterbury and René Girard"
With the rise of scholasticism, people of faith began for the first time to use their rational minds as a way of more deeply understanding those things which they already accepted on the basis of faith. Moreover, in an attempt to find harmony between scripture, traditional authorities (e.g., early Church fathers), philosophy and the observable world, the scholastics attempted to address identified contradictions between (or within) authorities and to work out solutions that would allow each authority to be understood as in agreement.
The writings of Bernard of Clairvaux, Anselm of Canterbury and Hildegard of Bingen provide us with windows into thoughts of their authors during a time of fruitful activity in medieval monasticism. Using references familiar to their readers, each author attempts to look through and beyond the expected, pointing the way to a spiritual value that leads the follower along the path to heaven.
Continue reading "Looking through and beyond the Everyday toward Eternal Life"
