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The Medieval Church · 1094–1098
Why God Became Man
Cur Deus Homo
Anselm of Canterbury · 1033–1109
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What it is
A dialogue asking why the incarnation was necessary, answered in terms of honour and satisfaction: only a human being owes the debt, only God can pay it, so only a God-man can settle it.
Why it lasted
The satisfaction theory of the atonement, which reshaped Western thinking about the cross and set the terms the Reformers would inherit and modify.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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