Confessions of a Rational Mystic

by Gregory Schufreider

Publication Year: 1994

Confessions of a Rational Mystic exposes both aspects of this transitional thinker through a multidimensional interpretation of his Pioslogion. It treats Anselm's famous proof for the existence of God as both a rational argument and an exercise in mystical theology, analyzing the logic of its reasoning while providing a phenomenological account of the vision of God that is embedded within it. Through a deconstructive reading of the cycle of prayer and proof that forms the overall structure of the text, not only is the argument returned to its place in the Proslogion as a whole, but the historic relationship that it attempts to establish between faith and reason is examined. In this way, the critical role that Anselm played in the history of philosophy is seen in a new light.

Published by: Purdue University Press

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To complicate matters, however, it must be admitted that something of the movement of Western philosophy that took place in our history between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, in its migration from the prayer cell to the schoolroom, is already in evidence in Anselm's own writings. Were it not, he could hardly have contributed...

Part II. The Monowgion

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pp. 18-96

Anselm's first attempt at philosophical writing remains among the many unread texts ofmediev'al philosophy, despite, if not because of, the notoriety his work has otherwise received. If Anselm is famous for anything, it is for the "ontological argument," which first makes...

Part III. The Proslogion

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pp. 97-239

As we mentioned at the outset, Anselm did not begin his writing career with a philosophical treatise but with a set of prayers and meditations of a rather more spiritual variety. In a strange way, the uniqueness of the Monologion resides, at least in part, in its lack of...

Part IV. Conclusion

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pp. 240-309

Ironically, the full import ofthe scarcely spoken assumptions at the root of such meditational works as the Monologion and Proslogion surfaces later in Anselm's own writings, when those assumed conditions no longer obtain. Once Anselm can no longer presuppose the...

Part V. Text and Translation: Anselm's Proslogion

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pp. 310-313

The translation that follows would not have been possible were it not for existing translations. I have tried to take advantage ofthem as well as of the unique opportunity provided by this series to offer a translation that is not so much designed to stand alone as to come at...