The purpose of this article lies in the understanding of God for Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), referring to his proslogion (1077-78). This proslogion begins with the answer of the universal debate between norminalism and realism in the middle age....
The purpose of this article lies in the understanding of God for Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), referring to his proslogion (1077-78). This proslogion begins with the answer of the universal debate between norminalism and realism in the middle age. God exists for Anselm both in the transcendental world and in the existential. Nevertheless, man never can recognize the being of God with his own reasoning. But man can recognize His existence only when God gives Himself out to the one who wants to understand God's existence so that the man becomes aware of him. In this sense, the concept in the scholar theology: "gratia infusa" is reasonable for Anselm. Because God is present both in the existential world and in the transcendental world. Hence, without God's spirit that crystallizes the existence of God through the "Imago dei: Image of God" which is innate to the man, man never can recognize the presence of God. Therefore, God is for Anselm "Deus absconditus et Deus revelatus."(Cf. Is. 45:15 "Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savoir of Israel")
God's transcendence corresponds to His absolute grace byforgiving the sin of the mankind. The righteousness of God does not depend on the natural law, but comprises and excels it. In this sense the grace of the almighty God is absolute. For this reason, man also can say that Anselm's almighty God is an "omnipresent God." In other words, he is the God of the past, Present and future (Cf. Rev. 1:8 '''I am the Alpha and the Omega' says the Lord God, "who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty"). In conclusion, Anselm characterizes and praises the omnipresent God as "saecula saeculorum." Therefore, the concept of God's attribution for Anselm can be characterized as "tanto differentem."