The principal contribution to Christian thought made between 500 and 1200 was Anselm’s doctrine of the atonement of Christ. Augustine’s emphasis on the divine will and on the part of the Church in salvation left the actual achievement by Christ relatively unimportant. The common conception of the atonement was that the death of Jesus served as a ransom to free humanity from bondage to Satan. Anselm, primate of the English church in about 1100, held that men and women had dishonored God by their disobedience, and God demanded a satisfaction which humanity was unable to give. Humans must therefore die and suffer the penalties for their sins unless someone else could pay the debt. Christ was able to do this because he was both man and God, and could more than pay any human debt by his excess of merit.
Impact: The emphasis of Anselm on Christ’s part in the atonement did not lessen the importance of the Church so the bishops had little quarrel with him. His theory of the atonement gained general acceptance.