Calls for reformation were widespread across the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but few were as nuanced or philosophically rich as the lifelong work of Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464). Cusa centralized the coincidentia oppositorum, the coincidence of opposites, in our knowledge of God and the mystical institution of the Church. In his book, Michael R. Kearney traces Cusa's historical impact on philosophy of communication and communication ethics with an eye toward the health of institutions in a postmodern moment of cynicism and decline. Cusa loved the church and fought passionately for its reform, energized by the "clouded vision" of a God who is beyond opposites. This champion of dialogic reformation offers churches and communities an unfinished task with a unity of contraries at its heart: upholding local narrative ground with tenacious loyalty while working in an increasingly large world.
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Calls for reformation were widespread across the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but few were as nuanced or philosophically rich as the lifelong work of Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (14011464). Cusa centralized the coincidentia oppositorum, the coincidence of opposites, in our knowledge of God and the mystical institution of the Church. In his book, Michael R. Kearney traces Cusas historical impact on philosophy of communication and communication ethics with an eye toward the health of institutions in a postmodern moment of cynicism and decline. Cusa loved the church and fought passionately for its reform, energized by the clouded vision of a God who is beyond opposites.
Michael R. Kearney, PhD (Duquesne University, 2024), is Assistant Professor of Communication at Dordt University in Sioux Center, IA. He has published eleven journal articles in outlets such as Explorations in Media Ecology, Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, and Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric. He is coauthor of the third edition of Communication Ethics Literacy: Dialogue and Difference (2023) with Janie M. Harden Fritz and Leeanne M. Bell McManus. His research focuses on communication ethics, dialogue, crisis communication, and religious communication. He is a member of the Eastern Communication Association, the National Communication Association, the Religious Communication Association, and the International Society for the History of Rhetoric. Dr. Christopher B. Brown is Associate Professor of Church History at Boston University. Dr. Günter Frank ist Direktor der Europäischen Melanchthon-Akademie Bretten und außerplanmäßiger Professor am Karlsruher Institut für Technologie. Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer ist Professorin em. für Neuere deutsche Literatur an der Universität Bern. Tarald Rasmussen ist Professor für Kirchengeschichte an der Universität Oslo. Dr. Violet Soen is Associate Professor for Early Modern History at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Leuven. Dr. Zsombor Tóth is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Literary Studies at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Günther Wassilowsky ist Professor für Kirchengeschichte an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Prof. Dr. Siegrid Westphal ist Inhaberin des Lehrstuhls für Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit an der Universität Osnabrück sowie Direktorin des Forschungszentrums Institut für Kulturgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit.
