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.
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