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Poetry

Anselm’s Proof

by Peter Mullen

My main work is the one misunderstood:
The Ontological Argument should
Be kept for something denied by Kant
Or formed by Descartes. Hear me, for I want
To put things right and make my meaning plain –
I told Gaunilo – and I’ll tell it again:
“God is greater than we can conceive”
Makes sense only to those who first believe.
My proof of God’s existence is a prayer:
In Proslogion I asked Him, “Are you there?”
In seeking to know of God, we need God’s aid.
To some this sounds dishonest, I’m afraid.
No. It’s part of a wider spectrum:
That of fides quaerens intellectum.

Peter Mullen is a philosopher and Anglican priest. His last cure of souls before he retired was Rector of St Michael’s, Cornhill, in the City of London. ‘Fides quaerens intellectum’ means ‘Faith seeking understanding’.