Countering Religious Violence with a Better Theory of Religion Following Nicholas of Cusa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rst.27274Keywords:
Nicholas of Cusa, Cusanus, theory of religion, inter-religious peace, concordanceAbstract
Dissent within and among religions can provoke much violence. Nicholas of Cusa encountered this and countered it with a differentiated theory of religion, implicit in his De pace fidei from 1453. I propose four different levels of interpretation: the dominant philosophical approach, inspired by a high trust in the intellect and enlightened by a self-critical epistemology; the anthropological foundation of all religion in the desire for truth, goodness, salvation and peace, in conjunction with the character of the human mind as a living image of the divine mind; the rational hermeneutical interpretation of particular religious ideas and texts in view of a
philosophical theology, and finally its reintegration in the perspective of a Christian. This is in line with Cusanus’s epistemological perspectivism and allows for interreligious dialogue from enlightened religious perspectives instead of violence.
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