Becoming God: The Doctrine of Theosis in Nicholas of Cusa

4. Theosis

4 T h e o s i s t h e w o r d o f g o d A ChristologicalTheosis Nicholas of Cusa uses the Greek term theosis in a few key places in his works. In one of these, the first chapter of De filiatione Dei, he draws the connection between rationality and deification.1 But you yourself know that theosis is ultimacy of perfection, which is called both knowledge of God and of the Word and intuitive vision. Indeed, I believe it is the view of the theologian John that the Logos or Eternal Reason, which “in the beginning” was God “with God,” gave rational light to the human being when the Logos transmitted to the human spirit according to the Logos’s own likeness.Afterwards, by vari1 . Nicholas sometimes uses the term ratio (rationality) to refer to a certain mode of cognition that differs from other modes. For instance, in De coniecturis he contrasts rationality with sensation and intellection. In this context, however, rationality is broadly construed as referring to the power of human cognition in general, and the implied contrast is between sentient and nonsentient things.  ous admonitions of visionary prophets and finally by the Word, which appeared in the world, the Logos declared that this light of reason is the life of the human spirit and that in this our rational spirit, if we have the divine Word, the power of filiation arises in believers.2 Because the rational spirit is in the likeness of Eternal Reason, it is the seedbed out of which the power of sonship or deification springs. Along with the link between the intellect and theosis, the above passage also suggests the program for chapter 4. As the second person of the Trinity is central to theosis, this chapter will follow the direction taken by the first two chapters and uncover a profoundly Christological theology.The first part of this fourth chapter will deal with theWord of God as divine self-expression.Thus,it will focus primarily on Cusanus’s understanding of revelation and creation.The second part will examine the human intellect as it meets Wisdom and discuss his views of salvation and the human being. It will examine Nicholas of Cusa’s view of theosis as an ascent of the intellect and focus on the mind’s desire for knowledge, self, and perfection.The third part will investigate what it means for the individual believer to be a son of God. From a Christological standpoint then, the first part will focus on Christ as the summit of God’s self-manifestation.The second will look at the notion of Christ as the imago Dei, and the third will present Christ as the mediator of divine sonship.3 The natural transformation of the former into the latter reflects the outward movement of theophany and its reverse, theosis. In this manner we will arrive at an idea of what Cusanus means by deification and its place in his theology.We will uncover the sense in which, for Cusanus, theophany is a dimension of theosis. Finally, we will set the stage for a discussion in chapter 5 of one t h e o s i s  2. DFD I h 52, Bond. 3. For the distinction between Christ as viewed from the theology of creation and revelation and Christ as viewed from the doctrines of anthropology and soteriology, I am indebted to a lecture given by Dr.Walter Euler on October 20, 1996, at Gettysburg Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, entitled “The Proclamation of Christ in Selected Sermons from the Brixen Period.” of the most serious difficulties to plague Cusanus’s doctrine of theosis: the problem of intellectual salvation. In this chapter, it will be important to note the points at which Nicholas is in line with traditional thought and those at which his works develop into theological novelty. From his statement that the second person of the Trinity exists as “both God and human” (Deus et homo)4 Nicholas’s Chalcedonian orthodoxy is evident.5 We have already seen the passage from De visione Dei where Nicholas refers to Jesus as the concrete instance of the coincidence of opposites.6 In this same text, he calls Jesus’ intellect both “truth and image,”“God and, likewise, creature,”“infinite and, likewise, finite.”“Truth” and “infinite” refer to “God,” while “image” and “finite” refer to “creature.” The apparent discrepancy with...