Rev. Thomas Williams, an Episcopal priest and distinguished philosopher, ably dismantles some of the cruder anti-Anselm polemics that blame his theory of the Atonement for, well, pretty much everything bad in Christian history.
"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal
One response to “Stop blaming St. Anselm for the Crusades!”
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I do not hold to an Anselmian view of the atonement, but I agree with your point. (I have a narrative modification of the classic “Christus Victor” view of the atonement.) In fact, I have a running feud with liberal feminist theologians like Rita Nakashima Brock who argue–based almost entirely on subjective interpretations of religious works of art–that there was virtually no focus on Jesus’ death until the Middle Ages (and after that all Jesus seems to do is die) and that this change led to church-based violence against women, gays, Muslims, etc. No matter where one comes down on these topics this is a VERY weak historical argument that is being treated far too seriously. It’s like thinking Dan Brown was a serious historian.
A Thinking Reed 
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