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Document Details : Title: It's Complicated Subtitle: God's Providence as Folding and Unfolding in the Thought of Nicolaus Cusanus - Sources and Development Author(s): DEN HARTOGH, Gert Journal: Studies in Spirituality Volume: 33 Date: 2024 Pages: 181-207 DOI: 10.2143/SIS.33.0.3293662 Abstract : In the literature on the German theologian, philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and diplomat Nicolaus Cusanus (Nikolaus Chrypffs, 1401-1464), relatively little attention has been paid to the place of the concept of providentia Dei in his thought. This article argues that this lack of attention is unjustified, since Cusanus’ treatment of the providentia offers an opportunity to gain insight into his entire thought. It is shown that, starting from the fact that four different paradigms can be identified when speaking of the providentia Dei, Cusanus speaks of a gemina providentia, a ‘double providence’, in that, on the one hand, providence has for him a linear, teleological character (especially in De docta ignorantia I, 22), while, on the other hand, the same providence is discussed elsewhere in terms of circularity (especially in De visione Dei). Thanks to this double approach, Cusanus surprisingly manages to bridge the gap between the cataphatic and apophatic discourses on God, the Absolute One. Moreover, the thought of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita (influenced by the neo-Platonism of Proclus) allows Cusanus to translate the providentia also in mystical terms. |
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