Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), often called the Father of Scholasticism, was born at Aosta in Alpine Italy and educated in Normandy. Anselm became prior (1063), and then abbot (1078), of the Monastery of Bec-Hellouin in Normandy, France. In 1093, he was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in England. As a theologian, he is known above all for his three works: the 'Monologion', the 'Proslogion', and the 'Cur Deus Homo'. Anselm propounded a satisfaction theory of the atonement, a theory in which the incarnation promises relief from the strict demands of divine justice. He defended a notion of the relation between philosophy and theology that, like Augustine's, emphasized the methodological priority of faith over reason, since truth is to be found only through 'fides quaerens intellectum' (faith seeking understanding). As a philosopher, Anselm is most known for his attempts to prove the existence of God. He proposed the famous Ontological Argument in which God is understood as 'aliquid quod maius non cogitari potest' (that than which nothing greater can be conceived).

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

THE life of Saint Anselm is well known. It belongs to the history of England. By nature a recluse and a thinker, he was called upon to play an active part in political life under circumstances of great difficulty. In the midst of these he bore himself with a conscientious up rightness, a quiet dignity and a persistency in the refusal to sacrifice principle to expediency which justified those who called him against his will to the throne of Canterbury: but his heart was elsewhere, in that passionate search for the innermost meaning of his religious belief, of which the history of the Church affords no more striking example than his. The quarrels about investitures, about the relations of Church and State, of Pope and King, which distracted his outward life in his later years, have left no trace in his writings. In a selection from these, intended to form part of a Library of Devotion, we need not dwell long upon them.

After Aquinas, Anselm is the most significant medieval thinker. Utterly convinced of the truth of the Christian religion, he was none the less determined to try to make sense of his Christian faith, and the result is a rigorous engagement with problems of logic which remain relevant for philosophers and theologians even today. This translation provides the first opportunity to read all of Anselm's most important works in one volume.

An exhaustive guide to every significant Christian theologian who lived from the first century to 1308, the year in which John Duns Scotus died. The dictionary encompasses the Catholic, Orthodox, Nestorian and Monophysite traditions, including information not previously available in English. Thoroughly indexed, the dictionary incorporates common variants of names and concepts which will help and direct the reader. The main criterion for inclusion has been contribution to the development of Christian theology. Sub-criteria by which that is measured include, above all, originality and influence on later figures. With over 290 entries, the dictionary provides a handy summary of theologiansi lives and writings together with recent scholarship,as well as an up-to-date, definitive bibliography listing primary texts, translations and secondary literature in the major western European languages. Useful for all levels of academia; no other text matches the depth of the dictionaryis bibliographies. The unprecedented thoroughness of Hill's compilation provides an essential resource for studies at all levels on such a large and varied range of Church thinkers.

The T&T Clark Companion to Atonement establishes a vision for the doctrine of the atonement as a unified yet extraordinarily rich event calling for the church's full appropriation. Most edited volumes on this doctrine focus on one aspect of the work of Christ (for example, Girard, Feminist thought, Penal Substitution or divine violence). The Companion is unique in that every essay seeks to both appropriate and stimulate the church's understanding of the manifold nature of Christ's death and resurrection. The essays are divided into four main sections: 1) dogmatic location, 2) chapters on the Old and New Testaments, 3) major theologians and 4) contemporary developments. The first set of essays explore the inter-relationship between the atonement and other Christian doctrines (for example Trinity, Christology and Pneumatology), opening up yet further avenues of inquiry. Essays on key theologians eschew reductionism, striving to bring out the nuances and breadth of the contribution. The same is true of the biblical essays. The final section explores more recent developments within the doctrine (for example the work of Rene Girard, and the ongoing reflection on "Holy Saturday"). The book is comprised of 18 major essays, and an A-Z section containing shorter dictionary-length entries on a much broader range of topics. The result is a combination of in-depth analysis and breadth of scope, making this a benchmark work for further studies in the doctrine.