I VISITED Le Bec-Hellouin, in Normandy, and the Benedictine abbey founded by St Herluin in 1034, last week. Bec was one of the most important abbeys in the Anglo-Norman world, and provided us with two Archbishops of Canterbury: Lanfranc and Anselm. An inscription in the Abbey Church reminds visitors of the link with Canterbury, with the text from John’s Gospel in Latin “That all may be one”.
Lanfranc was appointed Archbishop by William the Conqueror; St Anselm served under his successor, William Rufus. St Anselm is best known as a philosopher and theologian, the originator of what has been called the “ontological argument” for the existence of God. This, apparently, came to him in a flash in the middle of matins in the Abbey Church (or on the way to or from matins: accounts vary).
As the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) considers candidates for Canterbury, it would be good to have in mind our links with Bec, the religious life, and scholarship. One of Justin Welby’s priorities was to encourage the religious life; and the Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace was set up to do this. His predecessor, Rowan Williams, expressed the hope at his enthronement that Christianity might once again capture the imagination of the population, a hope that has not yet been fulfilled.
St Anselm’s time as Archbishop was turbulent and controversial. Relations with the King were far from easy, and he found himself in exile more than once. But his gift to the Church was a theological daring that has stood the test of time. He himself described the ontological argument in terms of “faith seeking understanding”. It was essentially a thought experiment. If God was defined as that being than which no greater could be conceived, the reality of God must be greater than the definition — hence, God must exist. (Sorry if that’s clumsy: I have a word count; better explanations are available.) St Anselm’s argument has fascinated and infuriated philosophers and theologians ever since, and more recent thinkers have been intrigued, including the Reformed theologian Karl Barth, and the American analytic philosopher Alvin Plantinga.
I doubt that the CNC will be looking for another St Anselm. They will be hoping to find a leader, a negotiator, a conciliator, who can navigate the choppy waters of the Anglican Communion and hold together the Church of England at a time when confidence is low. But, if there is one thing to be learnt from St Anselm of Bec, it is that a capacity for playfulness might help to refresh us all. Think of St Anselm walking between his cell and the Abbey Church at Bec, with the sky above and the ground beneath his feet, and allowing a train of prayerful thought to run away with him. He knew that God was greater than present traumas, greater than anything imaginable — and then greater, even, than that.
