The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

II. Cusa-Scholar, Philosopher, Churchman, and Reformer

NICHOLAS OF CUSA (Nicholas Cusanus, de Cusa, von Cusa, or Nicholas Krebs of Cusa) (1400?-1464)—theologian, mathematician, scientist, and scholar—often credited by later writers with establishing the year-day principle as applied to the 2300 days—derived his name from the place of his birth, Cusa, or Cues (Rues), near Treves, or Trier. His father was a boatman named Krebs (Krypffs). Not wishing to follow his father’s vocation, he left home and found employment with the count of Manderscheid, who sent him first to school at Deventer, and then to the University of Padua. ³ He studied law, as well as Greek, Hebrew, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy, and in later years, Arabic. At the age of twenty-three Cusa became a Doctor of Laws. But he turned from law to theology, which he studied at Cologne, likewise becoming a Doctor of Theology. After holding several ecclesiastical benefices, he was present as archdeacon of Liege at the Council of Basel. PFF2 125.1

1. CHAMPIONS AUTHORITY OF COUNCILS OVER THAT OF POPE

In 1432 the Council of Basel (convoked in 1431, and continuing intermittently until 1449) became a constitutional battle over the absolutism of the pope versus conciliar supremacy. Cusa, taking the antipapal side along with the Bohemian Hussites, was among the most distinguished champions of the authority of the general council over that of the pope, although he later changed his views. ⁴ The battle was fought with pen as well as by debate, Cusa there issuing his famous De Concordantia Catholica (Concerning Catholic Harmony), dedicated to the council in 1433. ⁵ In this—one of the ablest works of its kind—he contended that Peter had no more authority than the other apostles, that all bishops are equal, and that ecclesiastical authority is not confined to the Roman See. The Basel council renewed the decrees of Constance concerning the superior authority of the councils-which, of course, threatened the very foundations of the Papacy. PFF2 125.2

Cusa, having been won over to the adherents of the pope, was entrusted with a number of important missions by the church, being sent to Constantinople to bring about a union of the Eastern and Western churches, for the reunion of Christendom took precedence over all other church objectives. ⁶ The Greek emperor John VIII (Palaeologus, 1425-1448) and his leading prelates were prevailed upon to attend the Council of Florence (1439), which was a continuation of the Council of Ferrara (1438), to which place the Council of Basel had been transferred. ⁷ PFF2 126.1

2. PRESSES REFORM OF ECCLESIASTICAL ABUSES

Cusa came back to Germany as papal delegate to the diets between 1441 and 1446. In 1447 he arranged the concordat of Vienna, and in recognition of his services was created a cardinal. ⁸ About 1450 he was made bishop of Brixen, in the Tyrol, and traveled throughout the larger part of Germany, insisting on reforms of ecclesiastical abuses. ⁹ In 1451, pursuant to the purpose of effecting reforms, he prohibited all “bleeding Hosts.” ¹⁰ He preached in the vernacular, and in Magdeburg secured the condemnation of the sale of indulgences for money. At Salzburg he effected reforms in the convents, and established a thirty-three-bed hospital at Cues, ¹¹ to which he bequeathed his manuscript library and his scientific instruments. ¹² PFF2 126.2

He protested against the despotism and covetousness of the church, predicting that it would sink still deeper, to the point of extinction, before rising triumphantly again. ¹³ Cusa was one of the first to break with Scholasticism, and revealed the influence of the ideas on faith that he received during his early schooling at Deventer. ¹⁴ PFF2 127.1

Though remaining a son of the church, Cusa definitely influenced Faber Stapulensis, who was himself a French forerunner of Luther on justification by faith. ¹⁵ PFF2 127.2

3. DENOUNCES SCHOLASTICISM; EXPOSES FORGED CONSTANTINE “DONATION.”

Cusa, whom Dollinger denominates the most profound thinker of his time, denounced perverted Scholasticism in De Docta Ignorantia (On Learned Ignorance). He held that man’s wisdom lies in recognizing his ignorance, and that escape from skepticism lies in sensing the reality of God. ¹⁶ Of liberal views and wide mental horizon, he facilitated the transition from Middle Age scholastic theology to the Renaissance. He was interested in the Jews, and sought to lead them to a recognition of the Trinity. PFF2 127.3

Cusa’s De Concordantia Catholica, presented to the Basel assembly, was recognized as one of the ablest works of the Middle Ages. In it he favored the subservience of the pope to the council, ¹⁷ and insisted on reformation of the church. He and two other men (Reginald Pecock and Lorenzo Valla), ¹⁸ in the middle of the fifteenth century, proved on historical grounds that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery. ¹⁹ He made little use, however, of the discovery. PFF2 128.1

Christopher B. Coleman says: PFF2 128.2

“Nicholas Cusanus some seven years earlier [1433] in his De Concordantia Catholica covered part of the same ground even better than Valla did, and anticipated some of his arguments. But Valla’s treatise is more exhaustive, is in more finished and effective literary form, and in effect established for the world generally the proof of the falsity of the Donation.” ²⁰ PFF2 128.3

4. ANTICIPATED FEATURES OF COPERNICAN THEORY BY A CENTURY

In the field of science Cusa presented to the Council of Basel in his Reparation Kalendarii (Restoration of the Calendar), published 1436, a proposed correction of the Julian calendar similar in method to the one later adopted by Gregory XIII. ²¹ Moreover, Cusa anticipated Copernicus in part by nearly a hundred years in holding that the earth is not the center of the universe, but is in motion, and that the heavenly bodies do not have strictly spherical form or circular orbits.” ²² He was likewise conspicuous as a mathematician, stressing arithmetical and geometrical complements, the “quadrature of the circle,” and so forth. ²³ Schaff calls him the “most universal scholar of Germany.” ²⁴ PFF2 128.4

These were the intellectual attainments and the achievements of this scholar of the fifteenth century, who was influential in establishing the application of the year-day principle to the 2300 days. ²⁵ PFF2 129.1