Quotation
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“I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand.”
Anselm of Canterbury · Scholasticism · Medieval · 1077–1078
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the sentence as the method of the book: belief is the starting place, and understanding is what belief seeks, not a test the belief must pass before it is allowed. He is not saying inquiry is unwelcome. He is ordering the two. A rival reading hears a refusal of every question, a faith that explains why understanding will never be allowed to correct it; Chapter 1 is a prayer about that order; The argument of chapter 2 is what he thinks understanding, so ordered, can achieve.
Did Anselm of Canterbury really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. A standard English of Proslogion chapter 1, the programme of faith seeking understanding, echoing Augustine. The Latin is secure. This wording is a translation.
Where it comes from
Proslogion 1
Approximate date: 1077–1078.
How to use it
A adult confirmation class in Norwich that asks questions only as a way of collecting ammunition has reversed his order, and a class that forbids questions has dropped the understanding he says he is seeking. The sentence does not choose between those failures for a modern curriculum. It says, of his own inquiry, that he is not withholding belief until a proof arrives; Readers who need the other order will find the Proslogion already too far downstream.
A mindset reading
The line is often quoted against curiosity, and the book it introduces is a work of curiosity inside a faith. Seeking understanding is the verb he keeps. What he rejects is the project of understanding first, as a condition of being allowed to believe; A rival use treats that rejection as a general ban on evidence; He thinks the belief has content that can be understood more deeply, including by argument, and chapter 2 is the attempt.
Understand the philosophy
The key term is faith seeking understanding, fides quaerens intellectum, which was his first title for the work. Chapter 1 states the order: not understanding in order to believe, but believing in order to understand. The formula has an Augustinian background. It governs how the ontological argument is offered, as a grasp of what the faith already says; The Latin is Anselm's, and this English is a standard translation.
- knowledge
- meaning
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the sentence as the method of the book: belief is the starting place, and understanding is what belief seeks, not a test the belief must pass before it is allowed. He is not saying inquiry is unwelcome. He is ordering the two. A rival reading hears a refusal of every question, a faith that explains why understanding will never be allowed to correct it; Chapter 1 is a prayer about that order; The argument of chapter 2 is what he thinks understanding, so ordered, can achieve.
Did Anselm of Canterbury really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. A standard English of Proslogion chapter 1, the programme of faith seeking understanding, echoing Augustine. The Latin is secure. This wording is a translation.
Which work is it in?
Proslogion 1 Approximate date: 1077–1078.