Anselm of Canterbury (Christian Biographies for Young Readers)

Simonetta Carr has again rendered a great service to lovers of church history and, perhaps even more, to those not yet captivated by that love. In her sixth biography for young readers, adults and youth alike will rediscover godly Anselm, a man rarely heard of today but whom readers will be pleased to get to know. With her usual grace, Carr fascinates us with her subject, making the reader yearn to know more. Though Anselm lived in times and church settings vastly different from our own, this delightful recounting of his story reveals to us a man facing trials and pressures we can identify with in his fervent pursuit of God. Filled with their trademark beautiful artwork, this set is rapidly becoming one of the finest collections on the characters of church history to be published in many decades. Well done, Simonetta! I cannot recommend these volumes highly enough.

Its delightful to see that an increasing number of Christian authors are bringing strong Christians in history to life in short biographies for young people. This short biography of Anselm of Canterbury is a good example of this wonderful trend. Young readers will become familiar with a man whom sadly few have ever heard of but who should be remembered for his witness of Gods work.

Anselm, one of the most original thinkers of the medieval West, lived in a world that is in many ways very different from ours. Yet many of Anselms solutions to those timeless problems of how to deal with other people and how to speak about God are fresh even today, nine hundred years after he lived. Simonettas book is a very fine introduction for children to Anselm, his world, and his role in it.