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The Medieval Church · 1076
The Monologion
Anselm of Canterbury · 1033–1109
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What it is
An attempt, made at his monks' request, to establish the existence and nature of God by reason alone, without once quoting scripture.
Why it lasted
The book in which Western theology first sets itself the exercise of arguing without authorities — the beginning of scholastic method.
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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