Meditation According to Anselm of Canterbury

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34096/petm.v40.n1.7154
Keywords: meditation, contamplation, monastic theology, prayer

Abstract

The meditatio theme sends us directly to the spiritual framework of the monasteries where St. Anselm of Canterbury is one of the most relevant representatives in the High Middle Ages. As a Benedictine monk, Anselm acknowledges and lives fully the return to the self as introspection: recollecting oneself, in silence, in search of God. Distancing oneself from the world (a type of contemptus mundi) and love for God’s kingdom constitute the most indicative signs of happiness that may be enjoyed by a monk in the 11th century. One of the first aspects of meditation is the insertion within the conquest of the inner self as a self-acknowledgement of the soul to seek God assumed by faith. Current essay will discuss meditation within the context of monastic spirituality in Anselm’s time and the model of meditative prayer as elabo- rated in (1) the Proslogion, a treatise known to be a meditation on the reason of faith and (2) the Third Meditation, dealing with the redemption of the human stance. It will be demonstrated that meditation and contemplation, according to Anselm, have their full meaning within the salvation mysteries.

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Published
2019-11-01
How to Cite
Martines, P. (2019). Meditation According to Anselm of Canterbury. Patristica Et Mediævalia, 40(1), 5-27. https://doi.org/10.34096/petm.v40.n1.7154
Issue
Vol 40 No 1 (2019)
Section
Articles

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