Why God Became Man and the Virgin Conception and Original Sin by Anselm of Canterbury (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 695 the human soul or of the pre-established accord between the mind which knows and the universe which it knows (cf. p. 69, 81 ff.). The same mistake was, of course, made by Augustine, who nevertheless managed to capture with admirable profundity the true spirit of the Platonic argument and at least had the excuse of not having read most of Plato's dialogues, including the Meno, which he knew only at second hand. Finally, the overall quality of the essay is marred at times by a number of minor but still annoying defects. The author sheds little light on the issues at hand when he defines a "word" (verbum) as a symbol, as opposed to a sign, in what may be one of the least satisfactory parts of the book (p. 85 ff.) , and his constant recourse to Latin words or phrases, presumably for the sake of clarity, is to say the least far from unimpeachable ; witness, for example, the frequent use of the plural for the singular or of the genitive when the context obviously calls for the nominative form (pp. 63, 72, 75, 87, 89, et pMsim). The preceding strictures are formulated for the sole purpose of furthering the dialogue which Nash has auspiciously reopened and which has yet to yield its choicest fruits. Whatever the merit of these strictures, there is no denying that the book assembles a wealth of profitable information which those philosophers and theologians whose interests reach back to the wellsprings of Western thought will plunder with delight. Assumption College Worcester, Mass. ERNEST L. FoRTIN Why God Became Man and the Virgin Conception and Original Sin. By Anselm of Canterbury. Translation, introduction, and notes by JosEPH M. CoLLERAN. Albany, N. Y.: Magi Books, 1969. Pp. 253. $6.00. This new translation has a distinct advantage over previous ones because it has been made from the very good edition of F. S. Schmitt, 0. S. B. The translator, J. M. Colleran, seems to indicate why he chose to translate the Cur Deus Homo and the de Conceptu Virginali when he says that "it is quite likely that Anselm's principal claim to fame is his authorship of the book Cur Deus Homo" and that "the virgin conception and original sin is a corollary to why God became man." (p. vii) Colleran lists the different works of St. Anselm in "the chronological order proposed by Fr. Schmitt, so that the reader may better appreciate the Cur Deus Homo and the de Conceptu Virginali in the light of St. Anselm's whole body of theological thought and devotional meditation." (p. 13) Colleran expresses " the hope that the understanding Anselm had of the truths of faith is 696 BOOK REVIEWS not obscured, but fairly communicated by the present English version, and that not too much of the fervor of the saint's utterance has been lost by being relayed through a colder tongue. The only liberty deliberately and frequently taken was to shorten many sentences in which Anselm not only states a proposition, but works in attestation from authority, and reference to a related truth, and an ascetical animadversion, all without stopping for breath." (pp. 54-5) Whatever may be the opinion of the reader about the relative importance of the works of St. Anselm, he will, I think, be generally satisfied with the work Colleran has done. Of course, no two translators would render a passage in exactly the same way; however, Colleran's renditions are, for the most part, defensible. Because translations have a limited usefulness, it is enough, I think, if the translator renders with defensible and reasonable accuracy the thought of the orir:;·inal language. Therefore, any criticisms \vhich I have to make are somewhat trivial. It is useless to attempt to solve the controversy about the advisability of translating into beautiful English a Latin text which is, in itself, stylistically pedestrian. My main criticism of the present translator is that he sometimes puts into his translation more than the Latin will allow. This is done in one of two ways: First, he will often supply possible implications in the text, and second, he will use a stronger or more...