On the Christian Religion / / Marsilio Ficino.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English
• VerfasserIn: Ficino, Marsilio,
• MitwirkendeR: Attrell, Dan,; Bartlett, Brett,; Porreca, David,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (280 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION -- Internal Table of Contents -- PREAMBLE -- CHAPTER 1 – RELIGION, ABOVE ALL, IS PARTICULAR TO MAN AND TRUTHFUL -- CHAPTER 2 – ON THE DIVINITY OF THE SOUL THROUGH RELIGION -- CHAPTER 3 – YOUTHS SHOULD BEWARE LEST THEY OFFER AN OPINION ON RELIGION LIGHTLY -- CHAPTER 4 – EVERY RELIGION HAS SOME GOOD, SO LONG AS IT IS DIRECTED TOWARDS GOD HIMSELF, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS; CHRISTIANITY IS FAULTLESS -- CHAPTER 5 – CHRIST’S DISCIPLES NEVER DECEIVED ANYONE -- CHAPTER 6 – IN WHAT STATE OF MIND CHRIST’S DISCIPLES WOULD TOIL -- CHAPTER 7 – NO ONE DECEIVED CHRIST’S DISCIPLES -- CHAPTER 8 – THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IS FOUNDED ON THE POWER OF GOD ALONE -- CHAPTER 9 – CHRIST’S AUTHORITY IS NOT FROM THE STARS BUT FROM GOD -- CHAPTER 10 – CHRIST’S AUTHORITY WAS NOT AT ALL WITHOUT MIRACLES -- CHAPTER 11 – CHRIST’S AUTHORITY AMONG THE PAGANS -- CHAPTER 12 – CHRIST’S AUTHORITY AMONG THE MOHAMMADANS -- CHAPTER 13 – ON THE GENERATION OF GOD’S SON IN ETERNITY -- CHAPTER 14 – THE ORDER OF THE HEAVENS, ANGELS, AND SOULS AROUND THE TRINITY IS LIKE THE ORDER OF THE SPHERES AROUND THE CENTRE -- CHAPTER 15 – THE GENERATION OF THE SON IN ETERNITY AND HIS MANIFESTATION IN TIME -- CHAPTER 16 – IT IS FITTING FOR GOD TO HAVE JOINED HIMSELF TO MAN -- CHAPTER 17 – OF WHAT KIND IS THE UNION OF GOD AND MAN -- CHAPTER 18 – HOW BECOMING IS THE UNION OF GOD AND MAN -- CHAPTER 19 – CHRIST’S COMING GIVES BLESSEDNESS WITH FAITH, HOPE, LOVE -- CHAPTER 20 – CHRIST’S COMING SERVED TO LIFT THE BURDEN OF SIN -- CHAPTER 21 – CHRIST FULFILLED THE PERFECT KIND OF INSTRUCTION -- CHAPTER 22 – CHRIST EXPELLED ERROR, REVEALED THE TRUTH -- CHAPTER 23 – CHRIST IS THE IDEA AND EXEMPLAR OF VIRTUES -- CHAPTER 24 – THE AUTHORITY OF THE SIBYLS -- CHAPTER 25 – THE SIBYLS’ TESTIMONIES ABOUT CHRIST -- CHAPTER 26 – ON THE PROPHETS’ AUTHORITY, THE OLD TESTAMENT’S NOBILITY, AND THE NEW TESTAMENT’S SUPERIORITY -- CHAPTER 27 – THE PROPHETS’ TESTIMONIES ABOUT CHRIST -- CHAPTER 28 – RESOLVING DOUBTS AROUND THE PROPHECIES -- CHAPTER 29 – AGAINST THE JEWS: THAT THEY ARE WRETCHED IN CHRIST’S VENGEANCE -- CHAPTER 30 – CONFIRMATION OF OUR MATERIAL FROM JEWISH SOURCES AGAINST THE JEWS REGARDING THE HOLY BOOKS -- CHAPTER 31 – CONFIRMATION OF GOD’S TRINITY AND OF CHRIST’S DIVINITY FROM THE JEWS -- CHAPTER 32 – CONFIRMATION OF THE MESSIAH’S SUFFERING AGAINST THE JEWS FROM JEWISH SOURCES -- CHAPTER 33 – CONFIRMATION AGAINST THE JEWS OF ORIGINAL SIN, AND THEREBY OF THE MESSIAH’S SUFFERING, FROM JEWISH SOURCES -- CHAPTER 34 – PROOF AGAINST THE JEWS, FROM JEWISH SOURCES, THAT THE CEREMONIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED AND FULFILLED BY THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT -- CHAPTER 35 – ON THE AUTHORITY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE -- CHAPTER 36 – THAT THE HOLY SCRIPTURE OF THE CHRISTIANS IS NOT CORRUPTED -- CHAPTER 37 – THE CAUSE OF THE ERROR OF THE JEWS, MOHAMMADANS, AND PAGANS -- Appendix: Table of References to On the Christian Religion in Ficino’s Correspondence -- Bibliography -- Index of Citations -- Index