This is the first translation into English of Marsilio Ficino’s De Christiana religione, a text first written in Latin in 1474, the year after its author’s ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. On the Christian Religion is this Florentine humanist’s attempt to lay out the history of the religion of Christ, the Logos ("Word" or "Reason"), in accordance with the doctrines of ancient philosophy. The work –focuses on how Christ in his pre-incarnate form was revealed as much to certain ancient pagan sages and prophets as to those of the Old Testament, and how both groups played an equal role in foreshadowing the ultimate fulfilment of all the world’s religions in Christianity. The first part elucidates the history of the prisca theologia – the ancient theology – a single natural religion shared by the likes of Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Aglaophemus, Pythagoras, and Plato, and how it was fulfilled by Christ’s Incarnation and the spread of his Church through his apostles. The second part of the work, however, constitutes a series of attacks against the ways in which the books of the Old Testament were variously interpreted by Islamic and, more importantly, Jewish sages who threatened Ficino’s own Christological interpretations of Scripture. This new English translation includes an introduction that situates the text within the broader scope of Ficino’s intellectual activity and historical context. The book allows us to encounter a more nuanced image of Ficino, that of him as a theologian, historian, and anti-Jewish, anti-Islamic, anti-pagan polemicist.
Les mer
This volume makes available Marsilio Ficino’s polemical work De Christiana religione with introduction and notes.
AcknowledgmentsList of Abbreviations Introduction Marsilio Ficino, On the Christian Religion AppendixBibliographyIndex
"Marsilio Ficino’s On the Christian Religion is a counterpart to the Florentine humanist’s more famous Platonic Theology, also written in the mid-1470s. In this text Ficino reveals himself as the priest and theologian demonstrating how Christ’s Incarnation fulfils the ‘ancient theology’ (prisca theologia) shared by the Old Testament prophets and pagan sages, and how the Christian religio refutes contemporary Judaism and Islam. This elegant translation and commentary enriches our understanding of the multifaceted Ficino in many ways."
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781487543549
Publisert
2022-09-30
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Toronto Press
Vekt
540 gr
Høyde
231 mm
Bredde
155 mm
Dybde
30 mm
Aldersnivå
U, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet

Forfatter
Introduction and notes by

Om bidragsyterne

Marsilio Ficino was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. Dan Attrell is a PhD candidate in the department of history at the University of Waterloo. Brett Bartlett is an independent scholar of Latin. David Porreca is an associate professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Waterloo. Dan Attrell is a PhD candidate in the department of history at the University of Waterloo. Brett Bartlett is an independent scholar of Latin. David Porreca is an associate professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Waterloo.