Picturing Theology

1 5 6 /

P i c t u r i n g T h e o l o g y

God’s Sovereignty and Universal Revelation Conflicting Theories of God and the Universe Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis

I am not trying, Lord, to penetrate your sublimity, for my understanding is not up to that. But I long in some measure to understand your truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I am not seeking to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order that I may understand. For this too I believe: that unless I believe, I shall not understand. ~ Anselm. Proslogion 1. Anselm of Canterbury, Volume 1: Monologion, Proslogion, Debate with Gaunilo, and a Meditation on Human Redemption. Edited and translated by Jasper Hopkins and Herbert W. Richardson. New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1975. p. 93. The correct order is to believe the deep things of the Christian faith before undertaking to discuss them by reason. But we are negligent if, having come to a firm faith, we do not seek to understand what we believe. By God’s prevenient grace, I consider myself to hold the faith of our redemption, so that even were I totally unable to understand it, nothing could shake the constancy of my belief. Please show me what, as you know, many others as well all seek to know: Why should God, who is omnipotent, have assumed the smallness and frailty of human nature in order to renew it? Anselm. Cur Deus Homo (Boso to Anselm) 1:2. Why God Became Man and The Virgin Conception and Original Sin, by Anselm of Canterbury. Albany, NY: Magi Books, 1969. p. 65. Questions to Ponder • According to Anselm, what is the relationship between believing and understanding the truths of the Christian faith? • Why does Anselm believe it to be wrong not to engage the truths of our Christian belief at the deepest levels of reason and argument? • What is more critical for theological understanding: our reflection on the truth we understand or our commitment to understand the truth we do not? Explain your answer.