Nicholas of Cusa and the Poetics of Divine Ineffability

Author

Stephen M. Szolosi, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Date of Award

5-12-1999

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Theology

Department

School of Theology and Seminary

First Advisor

William J. Cahoy

Second Advisor

Susan Wood SCL

Third Advisor

Helen Rolfson OSF

Subject Categories

Christianity | Religion | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

In my thesis, I develop an interpretive framework that duly credits the paradoxical form of Cusa's hermeneutic of divine nomination with an essential rhetorical role in the expression of that which lies beyond the expressive power of language. In the light of contemporary linguistic and philosophical approaches to metaphor, I establish in what way Cusa employed a metaphorical mode of language use to determine the efficacy of theological discourse in general and of his own metaphor's in particular. As I understood my task, it was to enable a retrieval of Cusa's thought by developing a predisposition to read his texts apophatically in submission to the paradoxically (in)effable Word, so that we might enjoy the fruits of his contemplation.

Comments

Access restricted to College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University on-campus users.

Recommended Citation

Szolosi, Stephen M., "Nicholas of Cusa and the Poetics of Divine Ineffability" (1999). School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses. 1549.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/sot_papers/1549