, means "faith seeking understanding" or "faith seeking intelligence", is a Latin sentence by Anselm of Canterbury, which had been the first title for his Proslogion (I).Robert Theis: Das Proslogion des Anselm von Canterbury und die Frage nach der Erkennbarkeit Gottes It articulates the close relationship between faith and human reason.
Anselm states: "" ("I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but rather, I believe in order that I may understand").
The sentence represents the theological method stressed by Augustine (354–430) and Anselm of Canterbury ( – 1109), in which one begins with faith in God and on the basis of that faith moves on to further understanding of Christian truthDonald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 104. or faith: intellectus fidei.
See also
Credo ut intelligam Fides et ratio Rational fideism Science and the Catholic Church
References
Further reading Karl Barth : « Fides quaerens intellectum » ; La preuve de l'existence de Dieu d'après Anselme de Cantorbéry, Delachaux et Niestlé (Bibliothèque de Théologie), Neuchâtel et Paris, 1958, 160 p. (cours donné à Bâle, en allemand en 1930). Marilyn McCord Adams : « Fides Quaerens Intellectum »; St. Anselm’s Method In Philosophical Theology, dans Faith and Philosophy, vol. 9 (1992), 4. Julien Bayart : The Concept of Mystery According to St. Anselm of Canterbury, dans Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale, vol. 9 (1937). Michel Corbin : La significations de l’unum argumentum du Proslogion, dans Anselm Studies, vol. 2 (1988). Étienne Gilson : Sens et nature de l’argument de saint Anselme, dans Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age, vol. 9 (1934). Alvin Plantinga : The Ontological Argument, from St. Anselm to Contemporary Philosophers, Garden City, New York, Anchor Books, 1965. Katherine Rogers : Can Christianity be Proven? Saint Anselm on Faith and Reason, dans Anselm Studies, vol. 2 (1998).