The Stages of Love in Cusanus’ Sermon VII Remittuntur ei peccata multa

Barbara Grondkowska

doi:10.18290/rf.2015.63.2-10

Barbara Grondkowska The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Philosophy, doktorantka

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf.2015.63.2-10

Keywords: Nicholas of Cusa; sermons; stages of love; Mary Magdalene

Abstract

The article discusses one of the early sermons by Nicholas of Cusa—Sermo VII Remittuntur ei peccata multa, written in a dialogue form, uncharacteristic of the sermon genre. The main protagonist is Mary Magdalene, who was described on the basis of biblical and apocryphal stories. According to Sermo VII she is an allegory of the soul’s love for God. The article contains the analysis of Cusanus’ concept and terminology of love (amor, caritas, dilectio) as well as the description of the image of three and seven stages of love. Moreover, there have been identified intertextual relations between the sermon and sources attributed to Bonaventura such as De diaeta salutis by Guillaume de Lanicia and De septem itineribus aeternitatis by Rudolf von Biberach. Finally, there are also deeper semantic analyses of more difficult fragments.

References

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Jansen, Katherine Ludwig. The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Nicholas of Cusa. Early Sermons (1430-1441). Translated by Jasper Hopkins. Colorado: Banning Press, 2003.

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Rudolf von Biberach. De septem itineribus aeternitatis, edited by Margot Schmidt. Stuttgart (Bad-Cannstatt): Frommann-Holzboog, 1985.