Fides quaerens intellectum, means "faith seeking understanding" or "faith seeking intelligence", is a Latin sentence by
Anselm of Canterbury.
Anselm uses this expression for the first time in his Proslogion (I). It articulates the close relationship between
faith and human reason. Anselm of Canterbury states: "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed
credo ut intelligamcode: lat promoted to code: la "[1] ("I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but rather, I believe in order that I may understand").
The sentence represents the
theological method stressed by
Augustine (354–430) and
Anselm of Canterbury (
c. 1033 – 1109) in which one begins with
faith in
God and on the basis of that faith moves on to further understanding of Christian truth.[2]
^ Donald K. McKim, Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 104.
Further reading
Karl Barth : « Fides quaerens intellectum » ; La preuve de l'existence de Dieu d'après Anselme de Cantorbéry, Delachaux et Niestlé (Bibliothèque de Théologie), Neuchâtel et Paris, 1958, 160 p. (cours donné à Bâle, en allemand en 1930).
Marilyn McCord Adams : « Fides Quaerens Intellectum »; St. Anselm’s Method In Philosophical Theology, dans Faith and Philosophy, vol. 9 (1992), No. 4.
Julien Bayart : The Concept of Mystery According to St. Anselm of Canterbury, dans Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale, vol. 9 (1937).
Michel Corbin : La significations de l’unum argumentum du Proslogion, dans Anselm Studies, vol. 2 (1988).
Étienne Gilson : Sens et nature de l’argument de saint Anselme, dans Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age, vol. 9 (1934).
Alvin Plantinga : The Ontological Argument, from St. Anselm to Contemporary Philosophers, Garden City, New York, Anchor Books, 1965.
Katherine Rogers : Can Christianity be Proven? Saint Anselm on Faith and Reason, dans Anselm Studies, vol. 2 (1998).