Nicholas of Cusa Critical Essay | Critical Essay by James E. Biechler

Critical Essay by James E. Biechler

SOURCE: Biechler, James E. “A New Face Toward Islam: Nicholas of Cusa and John of Segovia.” In Nicolas of Cusa: In Search of God and Wisdom, edited by Gerald Christianson and Thomas M. Izbicki, pp. 185-202. New York: E. J. Brill, 1991.

In the following essay, Biechler situates Cusanus's position on Islam in the context of earlier Christian thinkers, particularly his friend John of Segovia. Biechler finds that Cusanus, like Segovia, had a more ecumenical view of Christian-Muslim relations than most of his contemporaries.

Whether or not one sides with R.W. Southern in considering the label “Renaissance of the twelfth century” a term of “sublime meaninglessness,”¹ there is not much room for doubt that substantial, even radical, innovations took inspiration during that creative century. A major factor in that inspiration was, of course, the infusion of books and treatises into European culture through the mediation of the Muslim world. Marshall...
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