SOURCE: Van Fleteren, Frederick. “Augustine and Anselm: Faith and Reason.” In Faith Seeking Understanding: Learning and the Catholic Tradition, edited by George C. Berthold, pp. 57-66. Manchester, N.H.: Saint Anselm College Press, 1991.

In the following essay, Van Fleteren highlights some features of the theological relationship between Anselm and St. Augustine.

It would be but an elaboration of the obvious to prove that the thought of Anselm was greatly influenced by Augustine. Anselm's own description of his thought, fides quaerens intellectum, owes much to the credo ut intelligam of Augustine and indeed is an excellent description of Augustine's project in the De trinitate. The similarities between Augustine and Anselm are partially explainable by the fact that, from Augustine's own time to Anselm's and in large part until the present day, Augustine has defined the mainstream of Christian, and indeed Catholic, thinking. Augustine was not in the mainstream; he...