Creation as deconstruction in Cusanus, Luther, and Hamann

Abstract

A pre-modern understanding of God as Creator implies that phenomena in the world are real because they participate in God. This was challenged through Duns Scotus’s and William Ockham’s concept of univocity, according to which God and the world are real in the same way. The article discusses how the doctrine of creation is used by Cusanus, Luther and Hamann to deconstruct the univocity perspective. The outcome of the emphasis of univocity was the so-called “nominalistic revolution” of the 17th and 18th centuries, which became basic for the modern scientific world view. The article shows that while the approaches of Cusanus, Luther and Hamann are still robustly empiricist, they are not captured by the theological and philosophical poverty that characterizes univocal and nominalist world views. They therefore present a relevant and viable alternative.

Creation as deconstruction in Cusanus, Luther, and Hamann