Cur Deus Homo

Cur Deus Homo ("Why God was a Man") was written from 1095 to 1098 once Anselm was already archbishop of Canterbury and discusses the Incarnation. It takes the form of a dialogue between Anselm and Boso, one of his students. Its core is a purely rational argument for the necessity of the Christian mystery of atonement, the belief that Jesus's crucifixion was necessary to atone for mankind's sin. This edition also contains a selection of his letters.

“The first really speculative thinker after Scotus is St. Anselmus, the disciple of Lanfranc. He was born at Aosta (1033), entered the monastery of Bec in Normandy (1060), succeeded Lanfranc as Abbot (1078), and as Archbishop of Canterbury (1093). He died in 1109. He left a great number of writings, the most important of which are: the Dialogus de grammatico, the Monologium de divinitatis essentia sive Exemplum de ratione fidei, the Proslogium sive Fides quœrens intellectum, the De veritate, the De fide trinitatis, and the Cur Deus Homo?

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New readings of Anselm’s speculative and spiritual writings brought in light of questions and thinkers from Augustine to today.

"One of the most readable and inspiring surveys of the development of the theology of the early Church is to be found in the introduction on faith, theology, and creeds in this volume.....Dr. Hardy here clearly interprests the scope of the vast, yet delicate, problem faced by the Fathers in the period of the Ecumenical Councils.