Smart people know how much they don’t know. Socrates said it well, “I know I am intelligent because I know nothing.” His quote is sometimes paraphrased in more familiar words, “The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.” This seeming contradiction of wise people knowing nothing is sometimes called the Socratic Paradox.
Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1461) was a Greek Orthodox bishop who recognized the limits of his wisdom in pursuing God. He lived during a transitional period in history between the late Middle Ages and the emerging Renaissance period. He was, by all accounts, a quintessential Renaissance man. He was an able astronomer who speculated before Copernicus whether the earth was the center of the universe and wondered whether stars and planets could be inhabited by extraterrestrial beings. He was skilled in mathematics and devoted considerable research in trying to solve the ancient Greek geometry question of whether a circle could be squared. He became principally known for writing, On Learned Ignorance. He enlarged upon the insights of the Socratic paradox that the more we know, the less we know. We are limited as finite creatures in what we can know about an infinite God. This need not lead us to despair. Scripture teaches that God is both incomprehensible and knowable. This is why Jesus Christ becomes central to our understanding of God. Our incomprehensible God is graciously known to us through Jesus Christ. The sheer wonder of an infinite God entering our finite world leads us to humility and adoration. We need smart guys like Nicholas to remind us how much we don’t know. He leads us into prayer: