P re f ac e In Europe and the United States, Nicholas of Cusa has been the focus of research for many years. Both his medieval mysticism and his foreshadowing of modern philosophical and cosmological notions have made him attractive to generations of scholars.Yet despite this intensive interest in his thought, insufficient attention has been paid to Cusanus’s understanding of theosis,a doctrine that can be viewed as the crowning summation of his mysticism. It is my hope that this study will contribute to the broader field of Cusanus studies by examining his doctrine of deification in an organized and detailed manner. This work would not have been possible without the wisdom and kindness of my mentors atYale,especially Louis Dupré,Cyril O’Regan, and Rowan Greer.Above all, I would like to thank Louis Dupré, who directed my research for this book and also my education at Yale. My initial introduction to Nicholas of Cusa occurred in one of Professor Dupré’s seminars, and his deep enthusiasm for Cusanus constantly fed my own. I owe the original suggestion of the topic toWilhelm Dupré of the University at Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Although most of my research was conducted atYale University, I enjoyed the advice of scholars of many nationalities whom I met through the American Cusanus Society. For the help of Christopher Belitto, H. Lawrence Bond, Elizix abeth Brient, Gerald Christiansen,William Collinge, Donald Duclow, Walter Andreas Euler, Lawrence Hundersmark,Thomas Izbicki, Il Kim, Thomas McTighe,Clyde Lee Miller,Thomas Morrisey,and Morimichi Watanabe I am sincerely grateful. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Peter Casarella, whose unflagging support guided me through many revisions . My heartfelt thanks also go to Donald Duclow and Klaus Reinhart for their detailed comments on the manuscript. I also would like to thank my colleagues and students in the philosophy departments at the University of Toledo and California University of Pennsylvania.Their interest and encouragement in my work has been a great source of inspiration and pleasure.The Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University provided a delightful year for me in 2003–2004 as a visiting fellow. An article, revisions of this book, and plans for future work were possible thanks to that fellowship . Encouragement from other scholars at Princeton, including Sarah Coakley and StephenTeiser, was of inestimable value. My editor at the Catholic University of America Press, Gregory LaNave, has been both patient and encouraging. I am grateful for the initial interest in the manuscript expressed by his colleague David J. McGonagle. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Craig and BarbaraWalker , and my sister, FaithWalker. p r e f a c e ...