On Harmony
De Concordia represents Anselm of Canterbury's mature philosophical theology, written around 1107 as the final major work of his intellectual career. The treatise emerged from ongoing theological debates about divine sovereignty and human responsibility that had persisted since Augustine, debates made more pressing by contemporary discussions of grace, merit, and salvation. Anselm sought to resolve what seemed like irreconcilable tensions between God's absolute foreknowledge and omnipotence on one hand, and genuine human freedom and moral responsibility on the other.
The work's full title, "On the Harmony of Foreknowledge, Predestination, and Grace with Free Will," reveals its ambitious scope. Anselm argues that apparent contradictions between divine sovereignty and human freedom dissolve when properly understood. He distinguishes between different senses of necessity, showing that God's infallible foreknowledge does not impose compulsion on human choices. Divine predestination, he contends, operates through grace that enables rather than coerces human response. Free will remains intact because it consists in the capacity to choose rightly, not merely in the ability to choose between alternatives. Grace does not diminish human agency but restores it to its proper function. Throughout, Anselm employs his characteristic method of rigorous logical analysis combined with deep scriptural reflection, refusing to sacrifice either divine transcendence or human dignity.
De Concordia has remained influential in Christian theology as one of the most sophisticated medieval treatments of the freedom-sovereignty question. Its careful distinctions and logical precision influenced both Thomas Aquinas and later Reformed theologians, though they drew different conclusions from Anselm's framework. The work demonstrates how rigorous philosophical analysis can serve rather than threaten theological understanding. Readers should approach this as a demanding philosophical treatise requiring patience with medieval scholastic method. Those seeking devotional reading or practical spiritual guidance should look elsewhere, but students of theology, philosophy of religion, and anyone wrestling seriously with questions of divine action and human responsibility will find Anselm's reasoning both challenging and illuminating.