1. References to Anselm: all references are to the critical edition of
jeffrey e. brower rightness for its own sake. For as he says, "no one preserves justice except by willing what one ought to will, and no one abandons justice except by willing what one ought not to will" (De Casu Diab.
4; S i: 241.1–2). Now in the case of the bad angels (i.e. Satan and his cohorts), Anselm thinks their loss is permanent or irretrievable. In the case of the first human beings, however, and their descendants
(to whom the original loss was transmitted), Anselm thinks that, at least prior to death, their rightness of will can be recovered – though here again the recovery is primarily a matter of grace (cooperating with free will) rather than the result of any effort on the part of individual human beings. Indeed, as he says at one point, emphasizing the difficulty of recovering such rightness, "it is a greater miracle when
God restores rightness to someone who abandons it than when He restores life to a dead person" (De Lib. Arb. 10; S i: 222.2–4).
All of this serves to emphasize the difficulties that Anselm thinks morality is fraught with in this life and the impossibility of moral success apart from grace. In our post-fallen state, he thinks we must begin by asking God to restore the rightness of will that once belonged to our first parents, and then committing ourselves to holding on to what He graciously gives us in response to our request.34 notes 1.
References to Anselm: all references are to the critical edition of F. S. Schmitt, 1946–61, which I cite by volume and page (and wherever appropriate also by line) number. Although all translations are my own, for Monologion, De Veritate, De Libertate, Arbitrii, and De Casu Diaboli I have consulted and sometimes relied extensively on the translations in Thomas Williams (trans.), Monologion and Proslogion with the Replies of Gaunilo and Anselm (Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing, 1995) and Thomas Williams (trans.), Three Philosophical Dialogues (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2002). For Cur
Deus Homo and De Concordia, I have consulted the translations in J. Hopkins and H. Richardson (trans.), Complete Philosophical and Theological Treatises of Anselm of Canterbury (Minneapolis, MN: Arthur
J. Banning Press, 2000) and Brian Davies and G. R. Evans (eds.), Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
J. R. Sheets is engaged, at least partly, in the attempt to dispel this impression; see J. R. Sheets, "Justice in the Moral Thought of St. Anselm," Modern Schoolman 25 (1948). For discussion of the Cambridge Companions Online © Cambridge University Press, 2006
Cambridge Companions Online © Cambridge University Press, 2006