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Title: The Mercy Than Which None Greater Can Be Thought in Anselm of Canterbury's Cur Deus homo
Author(s): REISENAUER, Augustine M.
Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses
Volume: 94    Issue: 4   Date: 2018   
Pages: 635-659
DOI: 10.2143/ETL.94.4.3285532

Abstract :
This article suggests that Anselm of Canterbury’s Cur Deus homo, despite recent readings of it, does not primarily concern any 'theory of atonement'. Rather, a theologically deep and historically contextualized reading suggests that its primary focus is the God of Jesus Christ. Anselm engages both Christians and non-Christians in a search into, not whether, but rather how God is both supremely just and supremely merciful, and acts most justly and most mercifully towards sinful humanity. Anselm locates the expressive coincidence of divine justice and divine mercy in neither a non-divine person nor a mere divine decree, but exclusively in the incarnate and crucified God-man.

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