Cur deus homo
Cur deus homo ("Why did God become man?") Is a theological work of the Benedictine monk Anselm of Canterbury , which was probably written between 1094 and 1098. In this work Anselm represents the doctrine of satisfaction .
content
It is to be proven with compelling reasons of reason that God necessarily had to become man in order to abolish the original sin in which mankind finds itself through an appropriate consideration. The evidence is presented in the two-volume work in the form of a dialogue between the author Anselm and the possibly fictional monk Boso.
During the dialogue, they agree that man to God satisfaction ( satisfaction have to do) that adequately compensates for the sin committed, so that by the legal system can be restored. Behind this stands the idea of feudal duty between the lord and vassal, which was valid at that time.
According to this understanding, a corresponding satisfaction would be the death of a sinless person to make up for the offense of original sin committed by mankind. Since man cannot possibly provide this necessary satisfaction himself due to his fallen status, God would be forced to reject all of humanity, which he, however, as a master who has committed himself to his vassal in return for his services rendered, offers protection , not allowed to do.
This dilemma between justice and mercy leads to the fact that God had to become man in order to be able to provide this satisfaction: This God-man Jesus Christ can reconcile mankind with God through his death on the cross, because as a sinless person he can bring satisfaction through his death, which adequately compensates for original sin.
meaning
What is really new in Anselm's doctrine of satisfaction is the idea of necessitas . While Augustine only described the mode of our redemption as the most appropriate (quo convenientior alius non fuit), Anselm wanted to explain the necessity of the path taken by God. This included two new thoughts: First, that God could not have forgiven without satisfactio. Second, that an infinitely valuable satisfactio, such as the death of the Godman, was inevitable, because man's guilt must be thought of as an infinite one.
The necessitas approach has not caught on. Both Abelard († 1142) and his opponent Bernhard von Clairvaux († 1153) and Wilhelm von Saint-Thierry († approx. 1148) hold against Anselm that God also had people in a different way than he did can redeem.
literature
expenditure
- Franciscus Salesius Schmitt (Ed.): Cur deus homo: Investigations. Latin-German edition. 5th edition. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1995.
Secondary literature
- Felix Hammer: Satisfaction and salvation. Intention, Meaning, and Limits of Anselm of Canterbury's Doctrine of Salvation. 1967.
- J. Mc Intyre: St. Anselm and his critics. A re-interpretation of the Cur Deus homo. Edinburgh 1954.
- Gerhard Gäde : Another mercy. To Understand the Doctrine of Redemption Anselm of Canterbury. Wuerzburg 1989.
- Georg Plasger : The necessity of justice. An interpretation of "Cur Deus homo" by Anselm von Canterbury. Munster 1993.
Web links
- Latin source code ( Memento from January 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Latin source text with German translation
- Cur deus homo at Zeno.org ., German translation by Wilhelm Schenz (1880)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Friedrich Loofs, Kurt Aland (ed.): Guide to studying the history of dogmas , Tübingen 1959, p. 415.