Nicholas of Cusa and His Age: Intellect and Spirituality: Essays Dedicated to the Memory of F. Edward Cranz, Thomas P. McTighe and Charles Trinkaus(105 Studies in the History of Christian Traditions)

This volume commemorates the sixth centennial of the birth of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), a Renaissance polymath whose interests included law, politics, metaphysics, epistemology, theology, mysticism and relations between Christians and non-Christian peoples. The contributors to this volume seek to reflect Cusanus's multiple interests. By doing so they commemorate three deceased luminaries of the American Cusanus Society: F. Edward Cranz, Thomas P. McTighe and Charles Trinkaus. Among the contributors are Louis Dupre, Bernard McGinn, H. Lawrence Bond and Morimichi Watanabe.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgement, Christopher M. Bellitto & Thomas M. Izbicki Preface, Morimichi Watanabe Guide to Cusanus Works Cited Abbreviations PART I. CUSANUS IN CONTEXT 1. Lines of Convergence: Some Remarks on Spirit and Mind in the Work of Nicholas of Cusa, Wilhelm Dupré 2. Prolegomena to Nicholas of Cusa's Theory of Religious Symbols, Louis Dupré 3. Behind the Scene: The Carthusian Presence in Late Medieval Spirituality, Dennis D. Martin 4. Canonists in Crises ca. 1400-1450: Pisa, Constance, Basel, Thomas E. Morrissey PART II. CUSANUS: PREACHER, BISHOP, THEOLOGIAN 5. Nicholas of Cusa's Early Sermons on the Incarnation: an Early Renaissance Philosopher-Theologian as Preacher, Lawrence Hundersmarck & Thomas M. Izbicki 6. Proclamation of Christ in Selected Sermons from Cusanus' Brixen Period, Walter Andreas Euler 7. Meister Eckhart in Nicholas of Cusa’s 1456 Sermon: Ubi est qui natus est rex Iudeorum?, Clyde Lee Miller 8. Meister Eckhart and Nicholas of Cusa on the "Where" of God, Elizabeth Brient 9. Maximum Contractum et Absolutum: The Motive for the Incarnation in Nicholas of Cusanus and his Predecessors, Bernard McGinn 10. The “Icon” and the “Iconic Text” in Nicholas of Cusa’s De Visione Dei, H. Lawrence Bond 11. The Curse of Cusanus: Excommunication in Fifteenth Century Germany, Brian A. Pavlac PART III. CUSANUS' LEGACY 12. St. Nicholas Hospital at Kues as a Spiritual Legacy of Nicholas of Cusa, Morimichi Watanabe 13. Jean Gerson (1363-1429), Nicolas of Cusa (1401-1464), Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples (1450-1537): The Continuity of Ideas, Yelena Matusevich Appendices Bibliography, Thomas M. Izbicki Works by Nicholas of Cusa Cited Index of Persons Index of Places Index of Subjects

About the Author :
Thomas M. Izbicki, Ph.D. (1973) in Medieval History, Cornell University, is Collection Development Co-ordinator at the Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University. He has written extensively on medieval papalism and on Nicholas of Cusa. His books include Protector of the Faith: Cardinal Johannes de Terrecremata and the Defense of the Institutional Church (Catholic University of America Press, 1981) and Friars and Jurists: Selected Studies (Keip Verlag, 1997). Christopher M. Bellitto, Ph.D. (1997) in History, Fordham University, is Academic Editor of Paulist Press. He has written on medieval reform and conciliarism for scholarly journals. His most recent books are Nicolas de Clamanges: Spirituality, Personal Reform, and Pastoral Renewal on the Eve of the Reformations (Catholic University of America Press, 2001) and Renewing Christianity: A History of Church Reform from Day One to Vatican II (Paulist Press, 2001). Thomas M. Izbicki and Christopher M. Belitto have also co-edited Reform and Renewal in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: Studies in Honor of Louis Pascoe, S.J. (Brill, 2000).

Review :
'This is an important book. the essays maintain a high scholarly level and form a remarkably coherent whole. They address the theme of "intellect and spirituality" clearly and forcefully, especially in the revealing accounts of Cusanus's Christology. Although I have studies Nicholas for more than 30 years, I learned much from this book. Readers new to Cusanus will find their way into his thought through the clear and accessible writing that marks nearly all the essays.' Donals f. Duclow, Theological Studies, 2004. 'Thomas Izbicki and Christopher Bellitto should be commended in particular for their attempt to explore an issue that lies at the very heart of Nicholas of Cusa's thought but that does not always receive the direct attention it deserves: the connection between intellectual life and spiritual life...Izbicki and Bellitto have provided a work that is a valuable resource for those who seek to acquire a deeper understanding of the thought of Nicholas of Cusa.' David De Leonardis, Speculum, 2005.