The Life of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (Oxford Medieval Texts) [Hardcover]

Eadmer (Author), R. W. Southern (Editor)

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Language Notes

Text: English, Latin

Product Details

• Hardcover: 386 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 11, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198222254
• ISBN-13: 978-0198222255
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,370,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars I don't mind calling this guy a "saint!", September 10, 2011

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David Marshall (Seattle area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (Oxford Medieval Texts) (Hardcover)

Eadmer begins with Anselm as a young boy in Aosta, a town in northern Italy surrounded by 10,000 foot mountains. He tells significantly about a dream in which Anselm climbed the mountains to the court of God, where God or his steward gave him some pure white bread. On the way there he noticed people out harvesting the grain, but doing a lazy job of it.

After his mother died and he fell out with his father, Anselm's faith became less serious, and he left home to do some traveling. He climbs a mountain pass towards France, and becomes tired and hungry, until his servant finds pure white bread in the donkey's saddlebag.

This early part of Anselm's life takes only a page or two, but nicely sets the tone for the rest of the narrative. Anselm would ultimately labor faithfully in God's fields, as a monk, philosopher, reformer, and ultimately Archbishop of Canterbury. Eadmer was one of his students. His affection is obvious. Anselm comes across as, above all, a kind man, gently interceding on behalf of children who are punished at school too harshly, animals, befriending even Muslim soldiers stationed in Rome.

The story is well-written and flows easily. Eadmer doesn't get caught up too much in official business -- there are lots of interesting ancedotes. Anselm never lost his love of the mountains, and I suspect his defintion of God as "He than whom there is no greater" may echo that night climb into the mountains in his youth. A lover of mountains is a saint after my heart.

I didn't read every word, but didn't notice much philosophy in the book. Nor was there much about the Westminster Meeting where slavery was outlawed, which I wanted to learn about. This biography does do the service of introducing the man, Anselm, though, and does it well.