COINCIDENTIA OPPOSITORUM AND THE “CRISTOCENTRIC ABSOLUTISM” IN THE THOUGHT OF NICHOLAS OF CUSA

Abstract

In this article, we seek to evaluate the possible changes or continuities of Cusanus’s political thought, especially concerning the relationship between Pope and Council, in two distinct moments of his ecclesiastical and philosophical career: first, in the work The Catholic Concordance (De concordantia catholica - DCC, 1433), considered by the scholars to be the sum of his “conciliarist” position and, secondly, in the Letter to Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo (Epistola ad Rodericum Sancium de Arevalo - ERSA, 1442), considered by the scholars the best expression of his new “papal centralism” position. From the evaluation of these works, it is concluded that, despite a “change of party” after the break with the Basel Council, Cusanus’s political thought is unclassifiable among the opposing categories “conciliarist” and “papal centralism”. Therefore, it could be classified as a “christocentric absolutism”, both in DCC and ERSA.