Giordano Bruno and the Kabbalah : prophets, magicians, and rabbis / Karen Silvia De León-Jones.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

DeLeón-Jones, Karen Silvia.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Yale studies in hermeneutics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bruno, Giordano, 1548-1600.

Bruno, Giordano.

Cabala--History--16th century.

Cabala.

Cabala and Christianity.

History.

Genre:

History.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

ix, 273 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [1997]

Summary:

In this major new interpretation of the thought of the heretical philosopher Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), Karen de Leon-Jones depicts the influential thinker as mystic and Kabbalistic. She rejects the popular view of Bruno as Hermetic magus - a position initiated by Frances Yates and widely accepted by succeeding scholars. Bruno's interest in mysticism and the Kabbalah was not merely intellectual or satiric, de Leon-Jones contends: a close look at his study of the Kabbalah reveals him as a practicing believer. This book sets Bruno's thought in the context of the widespread interest in non-Christian religions in fifteenth- and sixteenth century Italy. His quest for an alternative model to the strict spirituality of post-Reformation churches, for a way to encompass both scientific and mystical views of the universe, led Bruno to the Kabbalah. De Leon-Jones argues that Bruno's dialogue Cabala del cavallo (Kabbalah of the pegasean horse) expressed his mystical, kabbalistic doctrine. For Bruno, the Kabbalah reconciled science with theology and provided a biblical support for theories such as metempsychosis that he wished to prove scientifically through atomic theory and physiognomy. Balancing his mystical Cabala dialogue with the Hermetic vein of his dialogue Spaccio della bestia trionfante and the Napoleonic emblems of De'li eroici furori, Bruno creates a solid syncretic trilogy, as well as a strikingly modern apology for scientific and philosophical debates still of interest today.

Contents:

1. Nola, the Nolan, and the "Nolana Filosofia"

2. Bruno's Kabbalistic System

3. The Sefirot

4. Hokhmah, Minerva, and Sofia-Sapienza

5. Ignoranza, Sofia, and Verita

6. Metempsychosis

7. The Ass, the Asino Cillenico, and the Cavallo Pegaseo

8. Rabbis, Hebrew Doctors, and the Symbol of the Ass

9. The Prophet Balaam and the Prophetic Ass

10. The Prophet Moses

11. The Prophet Solomon

12. The Prophetic Allegory

13. Prophets, Magicians, and Rabbis

Appendix 1. The Actaeion Emblems from Eroici Furori

Appendix 2. The Sun Emblems from Eroici Furori

Appendix 3. The Emblems of the Nine Lovers from Eroici Furori

Appendix 4. The Nine Orders of Blindness from Eroici Furori.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-266) and index.

ISBN:

0300068077

9780300068078

OCLC:

36051296