Anselm of Bec: The Pattern of his Teaching

Saint Anselm of Canterbury and Charismatic Authority

“…Anselm's educational techniques have been the subject of detailed investigation [37]. Part of Anselm's success was due to his ability to reach his followers through the use of effective rhetorical techniques.…”

“…Why, without doubt the untameable fury of the bull will drag the sheep, which should produce wool and milk and lambs, this way and that through the thorns and the briars; and the bull, if it do not shake itself of the yoke altogether, will so tear the sheep that the sheep, unable to furnish any of these good things, will be of no use either to itself or Anselm continued the metaphor to explain that the Church in England was a plough and that it should be pulled along by two equally matched oxen, namely the king and the archbishop of Canterbury, the one drawing the plough along by his human justice and sovereignty, the other by divine doctrine and authority ( [4], pp. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. What Anselm feared was that the young king's 'untameable fury' would eventually destroy the feeble old sheep ( [2], p. 36).…”