SOURCE: Duclow, Donald F. “Anselm's Proslogion and Nicholas of Cusa's Wall of Paradise.” Downside Review 100, no. 338 (January 1982): 22-30.

In the following essay, Duclow juxtaposes Anselm's ontological argument with the symbolism of Nicholas of Cusa's “wall of paradise” in order to emphasize Anselm's use of limit or boundary thinking in his Proslogion.

Perhaps Gilson gave the best excuse for presenting yet another essay on Anselm's Proslogion when he wrote that one simply cannot resist the temptation.¹ An author does, however, need some justification for indulging his concupiscence. I would therefore make two claims for the following essay. First, it develops a new comparison between Anselm and Nicholas of Cusa. In particular, discussion of Cusanus's ‘wall of paradise’ discloses the implicit structure of the Proslogion's argument. Second, this comparison suggests a re-interpretation of the Proslogion in terms of phenomenology and contemporary hermeneutics. I shall first develop the textual comparison...