How did Anselm describe the relationship between belief and understanding?

St. Anselm of Canterbury, often regarded as the father of Scholasticism, described the relationship between belief and understanding through the principle of fides quaerens intellectum, or "faith seeking understanding".123

In Anselm’s view, faith holds the primary position; it is the starting point from which human beings approach the search for truth. However, he maintained that this faith should not remain unexamined. Instead, reason should follow faith, providing logical grounds and intellectual structure for what is already believed.4

This approach is most famously reflected in his work the Proslogion, which was originally titled Fides quaerens intellectum. By attempting to demonstrate the existence and attributes of God through reason alone—independent of scriptural authority—Anselm sought to bridge the gap between religious conviction and rational inquiry.14