Medieval · 1097

Cur Deus Homo

Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Anselm's dialogue on atonement argues that human sin creates an infinite debt that only God can pay but only humanity owes, and that the incarnation and death of the God-man was therefore not arbitrary but logically necessary. Written around 1097 at Bec, it is the foundational work on the doctrine of satisfaction in Christian theology: the Reformers drew on its framework directly, and the Westminster divines worked within the assumptions Anselm first articulated. The dialogue form gives the argument unusual clarity, with Anselm walking his interlocutor Boso through each step of the problem and its resolution.

2.5 hrs total · 48 chapters