Gerald B. Phelan

This book is the Wimmer Lecture No. 3, given in 1949. This book, partially because of its very short length, works very well as an overview or even introduction to the philosophy of Saint Anselm. Specifically, Anselm was concerned with the connection between faith and reason. Interestingly, Anselm saw the two as working together, not separately. He felt that without first believing, he would never understand; but he also believed that, since humans are rational, nonbelievers could be reached show more through reason and logic. Moreover, he was always seeking the "Truth," which for him, was something more than fact. Anselm says, "If one does what he ought to do, he expresses truth." Phelan's lecture is a fine introduction to these concepts, but it really left me wishing to read more. Phelan touches on different philosophies from Anselm's time and after (being as existance and not essence), and he also briefly contrasts the truth of man (veritas hominis) with the truth of existance (veritas existendi). Each of these concepts could be a lecture by itself, and I would have liked to see them examined in slightly greater depth. Still, Phelan only had a short amount of time to deliver his lecture, and he does quite a lot with so little. show less