De Processione Spiritus Sancti (On the Procession of the Holy Spirit)
Anselm of Canterbury's 1102 treatise — Latin-Western defence of the filioque against the Greek Orthodox position
Tradition: Scholasticism / Catholic-Thomistic / Medieval-Benedictine / East-West theological controversy
Anselm's 1102 treatise — Latin-Western defence of the filioque against the Greek Orthodox position
De Processione Spiritus Sancti ("On the Procession of the Holy Spirit," 1102) is Anselm of Canterbury's major treatise defending the Latin-Western filioque (the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son) against the Greek Orthodox position (that the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, through the Son). Composed for the 1098 Council of Bari, the work develops philosophical-theological arguments for the Latin position. Major medieval text in the East-West theological-political controversy.
Author
Editions cited
- De Processione Spiritus Sancti (Latin, 1102); standard Anselm Opera Omnia, ed. Schmitt; English in Anselm collections
School Embodiments
Major medieval-scholastic-systematic-theological work.
"The proper-philosophical-theological analysis of the procession of the Holy Spirit requires careful conceptual work; the dialogue develops this." (De Processione)
Foundational Latin-Western systematic-theological text on the filioque controversy.
"The Latin-Western position on the procession — filioque — is what the treatise systematically defends; subsequent Catholic-Thomistic work develops this framework." (Standard scholarly account)
Engages — and substantially rejects — the Greek-Orthodox position on the procession.
"The Greek-Orthodox position — proper-procession only from the Father — is what the treatise systematically rejects; the East-West controversy is at its philosophical-theological heart here." (De Processione)
Strong philosophical-rational-argumentative framework — philosophical reasoning on Trinitarian theology.
"What philosophical reasoning can establish about the proper-Trinitarian relations is what the treatise develops; the rationalist-philosophical method is essential." (De Processione)
Foundational medieval source for modern analytic-philosophy-of-religion conversation on Trinitarian theology.
"The modern analytic-philosophy-of-religion conversation on Trinitarian theology engages Anselm's framework as foundational source." (Standard modern scholarly account)
Natural-philosophical-theological framework — the proper-Trinitarian relations as proper-philosophical-theological subject.
"The proper-philosophical-theological analysis of the Trinity requires both natural-philosophical-rational work and revelation-historical work." (De Processione)
Strong critical-philosophical engagement with the Greek-Orthodox arguments.
"The proper-philosophical work requires sustained engagement with the specific Greek-Orthodox arguments; the treatise undertakes this." (De Processione)
Internal Tensions
De Processione defended the Latin-Western position on the central East-West theological controversy; the East-West controversy was never resolved and contributed to the 1054 Schism and subsequent divisions of Christianity.
I. Time
The 1098 Council of Bari moment; the 1102 publication.
Attributes
II. Space
The early-twelfth-century European East-West theological-political setting.
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III. Matter
The proper-Trinitarian relations as proper-philosophical-theological subject.
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IV. Observer
Anselm as Latin-Western systematic-theological defender.
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V. Energy
The systematic-theological-philosophical energies of the East-West controversy.
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VI. Information
The systematic-theological-philosophical content on the filioque.
Attributes
Personas with the nearest attribute fingerprint
Historical figures whose own classification on the same six-dimensional grid lands closest to this work's. Computed by attribute-agreement on coordinates both address.
Computed school proximity
The work's attribute fingerprint scored against all schools using the same quiz scorer. Useful as a sanity check on the hand-curated embodiments above.
How De Processione Spiritus Sancti (On the Procession of the Holy Spirit) resolves each dilemma
51 resolved positions across 4 dimensions, including 6 distinctive where the majority of schools go the other way · 6 unaligned.
Each dimension is sorted so minority positions come first. Mainstream positions are folded into an expandable list.
Time · 9 dilemmas · 3 distinctive
Persistence, the future, and the direction of becoming.
6 mainstream positions
Matter · 7 dilemmas, all mainstream
Observer · 37 dilemmas · 3 distinctive
Mind, agency, and the knower's relation to the known.