Anselm’s New Trinitarian Grammar

Abstract: In the Monologion , Anselm of Canterbury asserts that “each and every person is perfectly the supreme essence.” In De incarnatione Verbi , he says things like “God is the Father,” or “God is the Son.” In De processione , his last and most mature work of Trinitarian theology, he says such things even more frequently, and in one passage, he also introduces the phrase, “God is the Holy Spirit.” Before Anselm, Christians did not speak this way. They said things like “The Son is consubstantial with the Father,” but they did not say things like “The Son is the divine essence.” They also said things like “The Father is God, and the Son is God,” but they did not say things like “God is the Father, and God is the Son.” This article will first show that Christians did not use Trinitarian formulas like these before the eleventh century, at least not to any noticeable extent. Then, it will argue that the new Trinitarian formulas that became popular in the twelfth century trace directly to Anselm. Finally, it will discuss the significance of this historical development and offer a provisionary evaluation of its implications for contemporary Trinitarian theology.