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Title details for The Pope & the Heretic by Michael White - Available

The Pope & the Heretic

The True Story of Giordano Bruno, the Man Who Dared to Defy the Roman Inquisition

by Michael White
ebook
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2 of 2 copies available
The story of the trial of visionary philosopher Giordano Bruno. "A nice overview of the conflict between religion and philosophy in the Renaissance." —Publishers Weekly
Giordano Bruno challenged everything in his pursuit of an all-embracing system of thought. This not only brought him patronage from powerful figures of the day but also put him in direct conflict with the Catholic Church. Arrested by the Inquisition and tried as a heretic, Bruno was imprisoned, tortured, and, after eight years, burned at the stake in 1600. The Vatican "regrets" the burning yet refuses to clear him of heresy.
But Bruno's philosophy spread: Galileo, Isaac Newton, Christiaan Huygens, and Gottfried Leibniz all built upon his ideas; his thought experiments predate the work of such twentieth-century luminaries as Karl Popper; his religious thinking inspired such radicals as Baruch Spinoza; and his work on the art of memory had a profound effect on William Shakespeare.
Chronicling a genius whose musings helped bring about the modern world, Michael White pieces together the final years—the capture, trial, and the threat the Catholic Church felt—that made Bruno a martyr of free thought.
"White's book is exemplary for its discussions of the period's intellectual beliefs and social structure and for its vivid detail and illuminating look at Bruno's trial and subsequent death." —Library Journal
"Riveting." —Birmingham Post

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 21, 2023

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780061871368

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780061871368
      • File size: 840 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 30, 2002
      What is remarkable about Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) is less his execution for heresy by the Catholic Church than the philosophy that led to his death. White, who has written biographies of Galileo, Newton and Leonardo, offers a fast-paced account of the development of Bruno's thought and the reasons why the Church considered these ideas heretical. As White points out in an account that is part history of philosophy, part biography and part church history, Bruno drew on the atomistic philosophy of Democritus, the ancient occult rituals of Egypt and other magi, and the teachings of Jesus to develop a philosophical system that challenged traditional Christian doctrines. Drawing threads from each of these disparate traditions, Bruno became the first modern pantheist, contending that every individual is a part of God and that God is in every individual. He argued that individuals could use mnemonic occult rituals to discover this unity. Bruno also believed that the universe was infinite and filled with inhabitable worlds. The philosopher was so convinced that his ideas would allow individuals to seek God that, as White demonstrates, he was mystified at being charged with heresy. Bruno influenced numerous thinkers from Galileo, Leibniz and Spinoza to Coleridge and Hegel. Although White's tightly focused study offers a nice overview of the conflict between religion and philosophy in the Renaissance, Frances Yates's splendid Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition
      remains the standard account of Bruno's life and work. Agents, Russ Galen and Peter Robinson.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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