This book presents a detailed account of Ficinoa (TM)s "De Christiana religione" and of Picoa (TM)s "Apologia," in the context of the evolution of a humanist theology. Focusing on the relations between humanism, theology, and politics, it concludes with the Savonarola affair.
"This study explains how one of the remarkable thinkers of the Italian Renaissance, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494), broke new ground by engaging with the scholastic tradition while maintaining his 'humanist' sensibilities. A central claim of the monograph is that Pico was a 'philosopher at the crossroads', whose sophisticated reading of numerous scholastic thinkers enabled him to advance a different conception of philosophy. The scholastic background to Pico's work has been neglected by historians of the period. This omission has served to create not only an unreliable portrait of Pico's thought, but a more general ignorance of the dynamism of scholastic thought in late fifteenth-century Italy. The books argues that these deficiencies of modern scholarship stand in need of correction"--
An account of the astrological controversies that arose in Renaissance Italy in the wake of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem, published in 1496.
This book offers a re-evaluation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, the prominent Italian Renaissance philosopher and prince of Concord. It argues that Pico is part of a history of attempted concordance between philosophy and theology, reason and faith. His contribution is a syncretist theological philosophy based on Christianity, Platonism, Aristotelianism and Jewish Kabbalism. After an introduction, Chapter 2 discusses Pico’s career, his power-relations and his work, Chapters 3 and 4 place his three pillars of Platonism, Aristotelianism and Kabbalism in their historical context, examines shared histories, and introduces the scholars around Pico who contributed so much in each of these traditions (introducing, for example, Christian Kabbalism), including exploring Pico's complex relationship with Marsilio Ficino. Chapter 5 examines the problems of concordance within Pico’s cosmology and metaphysics, including the question of God and the role of the Intellect. Chapter 6 describes Pico’s ‘exceptionalist’ version of the mystical ascent as an individualized ascetic experience. Pico eschews the contemporary desire to use a renewed christian thinking or christian-classical metaphysics to change the world (towards a Golden Age or a 'second coming') to present a personal path to God, with no return to the world.
To Ficino and prefaces added to his work published at this time." "The letters cover topics from friendship to healthy living and from the ancient philosophical tradition to biblical scholarship and medicine; there is discussion of the influence of the stars on human life, recommendations for reading books related to the Platonic tradition and reflections on the art of good writing and speaking." --Book Jacket.
This is the 2016 paperback printing of the 2008 edition of the popular text, translation, and commentary by S. A. Farmer. (The 2008 edition was a revised edition of the 1998 original publication). Published by ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) in Tempe, Arizona as part of the MRTS (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies) Series, this book -- previously available only in hardcover and otherwise out-of-print since 2014 -- is now available in its entirety in paperback format.
An ardent treatise for the Dignity of Man, which elevates Humanism to a truly Christian level. This translation of Pico della Mirandola's famed "Oration," hitherto hidden away in anthologies, was prepared especially for Gateway Editions, making it available for the first time in a stand-alone volume. The youngest son of the Prince of Mirandola, Pico lived during the Renaissance, an era of change and philosophical ferment. The tenacity with which he clung to fundamental Christian teachings while crying out against his brilliant though half-pagan contemporaries made him exceptional in a time of exceptional men. While Pico, as Russell Kirk observes in his introduction, was an ardent spokesman for the "dignity of man," his devout nature elevated humanism to a truly Christian level, which makes his writing as pertinent today as it was in the fifteenth century.
Did the Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) influence the art of his time? This book starts with an exploration of Ficino’s views on the imagination and discusses whether, how and why these ideas may have been received in Italian Renaissance works of art.