- Article (book excerpt)
- 1200 words
- Level: high school and above
An excerpt from the eleventh-century Proslogion of Anselm of Canterbury on the mind-bending nature of God and God’s existence beyond space and time. This article has been selected by the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science (Inters.org), which is edited by the Advanced School for Interdisciplinary Research, operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and directed by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti. St. Anselm writes:
And You are the being who exists in a strict and absolute sense because You have neither past nor future existence but only present existence; nor can You be thought not to exist at any time. And You are life and light and wisdom and blessedness and eternity and many suchlike good things; and yet You are nothing save the one and supreme good, You who are completely sufficient unto Yourself, needing nothing, but rather He whom all things need in order that they may have being and well-being.
Click here for this material from Inters.org.
Click here for this material from a published edition of Anselm’s works.