Cur Deus What?

I’m Anselm, who are you? There’s a fun little quiz I found out there in cyberspace. It asks some questions and then tells you which figure from church history you are most like. Goodness, I hadn’t heard of Anselm for a long time. According to the quiz:

Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period. He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?

After shaking some cobwebs out of my brain, I remembered (vaguely) my theological training. Anselm’s famous phrase, aliquid quod maius non cogitari potest, came to mind ("that than which nothing greater can be conceived"). And if you think I remembered it in Latin, well…well…let’s just leave you to your thoughts. Anselm’s ontological argument always seemed way too philosophical for my liking; but I did appreciate his passion apologetic streak. Anselm of Canterbury was no lightweight. His brilliant shredding of arguments opposed to God’s existence and his understanding of other theological matters helped from the church out of the church ages and set the stage for the Reformation.

For what it’s worth, I scored “Jonathon Edwards” as my runner up. Hey, now there’s a guy I wouldn’t mind being labeled with. He’s regarded by many historians as America’s greatest theologian, you know.

You can take the quiz here and here is my complete scorecard.

Anselm 87%
Jonathan Edwards 73%
Martin Luther 67%
Karl Barth 67%
John Calvin 67%
J. Moltmann 53%
Charles Finney 47%
Paul Tillich 33%
Friedrich Schleiermacher 33%
Augustine 20%