1. Mon. 31 (S i: 49–50); 68–69 (S i: 78–84); De Ver. 2 (S i: 178–79); 4 (S i:
marilyn mccord adams ontological and epistemical gap between God and humans is so great that it took generations for the human race to work up to a plausible approximation of the right idea. On this reworking of Anselmian themes, Scripture and creeds remain authoritative, not as infallible dictates, but as tutors to which one submits for spiritual formation and from whom the philosophical theologian or Christian philosopher should never depart lightly or in haste. Yet, just as the interactive study of authority has led many to "find" theological development within the Bible itself; so we might expect with Anselm that – since (3) God made us in His image and (4) gives the Holy
Spirit in every age – further progress toward the truth about God might be made in our day as well. If some understandings seem to be "outgrown" in the Bible (e.g. that God might be jealous of human achievements in building skyscrapers in Genesis 11:1–9), so – with all due caution – we are not entitled to dismiss a priori all contradictions of Scripture as ipso facto mistaken.132 If this estimate of the Bible erodes security about our sense of intellectual direction, it spawns greater optimism about the divine collaborator's willingness to be patient with dull-witted and silly students, as about His pedagogical resourcefulness in redeeming our errors. notes 1. Mon. 31 (S i: 49–50); 68–69 (S i: 78–84); De Ver. 2 (S i: 178–79); 4 (S i:
180–88); 7 (S i: 185.6–186.4).
2. Mon. 68 (S i: 78.25–79.1).
3. Mon. 68 (S i: 79.2–3).
4. Prosl. 1 (S i: 98.14–15). Likewise, Anselm speaks of Adam's losing the "happiness for which he was made" (S i: 98.18).
5. Cf. Prosl. 24–26 (S i: 117.25–122.2).
6. Cur Deus Homo 2.1 (S i: 97.4–98.5).
7. Mon. 28 (S i: 46.8–16.29).
8. Prosl. 15 (S i: 112.14–17).
9. Prosl. 1 (S i: 98.3–5); 9 (S i: 107.4–27); 14 (S i: 111.22–112.11); 16 (S i:
112.19–113.4); Cur Deus Homo 1.2 (S ii: 50.3–13).
10. Mon. 36 (S i: 54.15–18); 66 (S i: 74.30–75.16).
11. Mon. 15 (S i: 28.3–17, 13, 16, 25); 28 (S i: 46.20); Prosl. 17 (S i: 113.13).
12. De Lib. Arb. 3–4 (S i: 212.19–214.12); cf. De Casu Diab. 12–17 (S i:
251.22–262.19); De Conc. Virg. 1–2 (S ii: 140.3–142.10); De Conc. 3.1–6 (S ii: 263.4–73.6).
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