Anselm’s God

Ask anyone who recognizes the name Anselm, and they will tell you that he was the formulator of a theory of the atonement in which God is an exacting accountant of honor.  Damaged honor has to be restored; and, tallied up, the damaged honor proves infinite, and so demands infinite restoration.  Anselm’s theory looks like that dreaded “classical theism” applied to the atonement.  Abelard’s God seems a good big cuddlier, and “subjective” theories of the atonement seem more personable than “objective” theories.

That’s a fairly radical misperception.  Abelard’s theory, and all the others that followed him, assume that the atonement was intended to affect us .   Anselm’s theory, on the contrary, assumes a God who is being acted upon .  On Anselm’s theory, God is at least as “interactive” as Abelard’s, maybe more so.