David Albertson is Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California.

Winner of the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise

"[A] fascinating genealogical study...Albertson does explain, more specifically than anyone has done before, exactly what it means for Cusanus to be dependent on the twelfth-century Thierry of Chartres, but his genealogical map also allows him to explore the deep reasons for the dynamic nature of Thierry and Cusanus's project...[H]is scholarship should appeal to medievalists, historians of philosophy and theology, Renaissance scholars, but also all those interested in the genealogy of modernity and questions of secularism, or anyone looking for a brilliant example of the early modern compatibility of religious belief and scientific/mathematical inquiry."--The Journal of Religion

"This is the most insightful and learned monograph on Nicholas of Cusa to appear in the last decade. Cusanus scholars will have to grapple with his new reading of the Chartrian lines of influence, including his brilliant insight into Nicholas's alleged forgery. Even more exciting is the new sketch for the pre-history of today's debates about science and theology. Are the intellectual presuppositions of our spiritual a-cosmism only to be found within the age of Galileo or can the ancient and medieval synthesis of arithmetic and Incarnation still speak to us? Albertson adds considerable depth and light to that pressing discussion."--Peter Casarella, Associate Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame and President, American Cusanus Society

"The heritage of Pythagoras has influenced Western thought for two-and-a-half millennia. One of the neglected aspects of this tradition was the development of Christian Neopythagoreanism in Late Antiquity and its rebirth in the twelfth century with the early scholastic Thierry of Chartres. David Albertson's wide-ranging and impressive book uncovers the significance of Thierry's mathematical theology and demonstrates its powerful influence on the Renaissance Cardinal and speculative thinker Nicholas of Cusa. Mathematical Theologies is a ground-breaking study in the history of Western theology and a major new interpretation of Cusanus." --Bernard McGinn, Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor emeritus, University of Chicago

"Mathematization is usually regarded as the central element in the transition from medieval theology to modern science. David Albertson's genealogical study of the roots of Nicholas of Cusa's thought in the Christian Neopythagoreanism of Thierry of Chartres demonstrates that theology and mathematics did not always go separate ways. What if, in our age of unprecedented quantification, Word and Number could be made to meet once again? That is the provocative question of this brilliant book." --Philipp W. Rosemann, Professor of Philosophy, University of Dallas

"Mathematical Theologies has much to offer scholars of Thierry and Cusanus but more broadly those interested in how historical theology found and/or ignored meaning in numbers." --Journal of the History of Philosophy

"Albertson's first book is a major contribution to our understanding of mathematical notions of the cosmos."-- David Zachariah Flanagin, Catholic Historical Review