In Nicolaus Cusanus on Faith and the Intellect, K.M. Ziebart argues convincingly that Cusanus’ epistemology was a direct response to late-medieval debates over the relation between faith and reason—one which sought to resolve these debates by introducing a controversially strong integration of philosophy and theology. By examining his works in the context of debates with his peers, Ziebart shows how and why Cusanus came to articulate a theory of knowledge in which faith is posited as inherent to the very structure of mind, as the vis iudiciaria, or power of judgment. This well-grounded study sheds new light on the Cusan philosophy and expands our view of a crucial, liminal period in European intellectual history.

Nicholas of Cusa and Early Modern Reform sheds new light on Cusanus’ relationship to early modernity by focusing on the reform of church, the reform of theology, the reform of perspective, and the reform of method – which together aim to encompass the breadth and depth of Cusanus’ own reform initiatives. In particular, in examining the way in which he served as inspiration for a wide and diverse array of reform-minded philosophers, ecclesiastics, theologians, and lay scholars in the midst of their struggle for the renewal and restoration of the individual, society, and the world, our volume combines a focus on Cusanus as a paradigmatic thinker with a study of his concrete influence on early modern thought. This volume is aimed at scholars working in the field of late medieval and early modern philosophy, theology, and history of science. As the first Anglophone volume to explore the early modern reception of Nicholas of Cusa, this work will provide an important complement to a growing number of companions focusing on his life and thought.

Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) was active during the Renaissance, developing adventurous ideas even while serving as a churchman. The religious issues with which he engaged – spiritual, apocalyptic and institutional – were to play out in the Reformation. These essays reflect the interests of Cusanus but also those of Gerald Christianson, who has studied church history, the Renaissance and the Reformation. The book places Nicholas into his times but also looks at his later reception. The first part addresses institutional issues, including Schism, conciliarism, indulgences and the possibility of dialogue with Muslims. The second treats theological and philosophical themes, including nominalism, time, faith, religious metaphor, and prediction of the end times.

An analysis of Nicholas of Cusa’s conception of the power of judgment that shows it enables morality as well as cognition.

For the first time in one volume in English are the spiritual writings of this outstanding intellectual figure (1401-1464) whose work anticipated modern problems of ecumenicity and pluralism, empowerment and reconciliation, and tolerance and individuality.

Religion would be impossible without imagination. Imagination provides content that otherwise escapes discourse and perception. Thus, it opens up a productive realm for creative involvement that keeps religion from sinking into trivialities or abstractions. The contributions in the present volume explore in various ways potentialities and problems linked to imagination’s role in the context of religion. The book challenges readers to think again and think differently about imagination in religion – which, in itself, involves the power of imagination. The book opens up fresh perspectives on the interactive dynamics between imagination and various faculties or dimensions of life. Imagination might be involved in thinking, perceiving, contemplation, and in practices. The contributors to the volume are all members of the Nordic Society for the Philosophy of Religion.

The Philosophy of Religion is one result of the Early Modern Reformation movements, as competing theologies purported truth claims which were equal in strength and different in contents. Renaissance thought, from Humanism through philosophy of nature, contributed to the origin of the modern concepts of God. This book explores the continuity of philosophy of religion from late medieval thinkers through humanists to late Renaissance philosophers, explaining the growth of the tensions between the philosophical and theological views. Covering the work of Renaissance authors, including Lull, Salutati, Raimundus Sabundus, Plethon, Cusanus, Valla, Ficino, Pico, Bruno, Suárez, and Campanella, this book offers an important understanding of the current philosophy/religion and faith/reason debates and fills the gap between medieval and early modern philosophy and theology.

The volume focuses on the relation between Cusanus and Aristotle or the Aristotelian tradition. In recent years the attention on this topic has partially increased, but overall the scholarship results are still partial or provisional. The book thus aims at verifying more systematically how Aristotle and Aristotelianism have been received by Cusanus, in both their philosophical and theological implications, and how he approached the Aristotelian thought. In order to answer these questions, the papers are structured according to the traditional Aristotelian sciences and their reflection on Cusanus' thought. This allows to achieve some aspects of interest and originality: 1) the book provides a general, but systematic analysis of Aristotle's reception in Cusanus' thought, with some coherent results. 2) Also, it explores how a philosopher and theologian traditionally regarded as Neoplatonist approached Aristotle and his tradition (including Thomas Aquinas), what he accepted of it, what he rejected, and what he tried to overcome. 3) Finally, the volume verifies the attitude of a relevant Christian philosopher and theologian of the Humanistic age towards Aristotle.

Scholarship has recognized fifteenth-century speculative thinker Nicholas of Cusa for his early contributions to conciliar theory, but not his later ecclesiastical career as cardinal, residential bishop, preacher, and reformer. Richard Serina shows that, as bishop in the Tyrolese diocese of Brixen from 1452 to 1458, and later as resident cardinal in Rome, Nicolas of Cusa left a testament to his view of reform in the sermons he preached to monks, clergy, and laity. These 171 sermons, in addition to his Reformatio generalis of 1459, reflect an intellectual coming to terms with the challenge of reform in the late medieval church, and in response creatively incorporating metaphysics, mystical theology, ecclesiology, and personal renewal into his preaching of reform.

Known for his deeply mystical writings about Christianity, Nicholas of Cusa wrote this, his most popular work, against a backdrop of widespread Church corruption. God, he believed, is found in all things, and thus cannot be perceived by man's senses and intellect alone. The path to ultimate knowledge, then, begins in recognizing our own ignorance. Deeply influenced by Saint Augustine, Nicholas mixes the metaphysical with the personal to create a deeply felt work, first published in 1453, designed to restore faith in even the most jaded.