Ficino, Marsilio. On the Christian Religion. Eds. and trans. Dan Attrell, Brett Bartlett, and David Porreca
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) is considered one of the most important intellectuals of the Quattrocento.The Florentine philosopher authored the eighteen-volume treatise Platonic Theology: On the Immortality of the Soul (1482) as well as the notorious Three Books on Life (1489).In addition, he translated the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin in 1463 and published the first translation of the entire Platonic corpus into Latin in 1484.He also wrote numerous commentaries on the Neoplatonists.Eight decades of scholarship have engaged with his work and influence from multiple perspectives.Some scholars focus on one of his public roles-for example, as humanist or physician.Others emphasize Ficino's role in reviving Plato and the Neoplatonic tradition during the Renaissance.Still others stress his role as Renaissance-magus.Dan Attrell, Brett Bartlett, and David Porreca's translation of Ficino's On the Christian Religion centres on one of these roles.As they explain, their aim is to "elaborate further Ficino's current repertoire of literary personas" to include "Ficino the priest" (5), ordained 1473.They provide the first English translation of De Christiana religione, first published in Italian in 1474, then in Latin in 1476, with the vernacular edition undergoing revisions until its last printing in 1484.This translation is based on Guido Bartolucci's critical edition, published by Edizioni della Normale (Pisa, 2019).The translators' introduction is excellent; it places Ficino's text within its broader historical and cultural contexts and illuminates Ficino's intellectual activities and his program to help readers better understand the work's nature and purpose: to synthesize and harmonize pagan philosophy with Christian thought.Or, in Ficino's words in his preface addressed to Lorenzo de Medici, to restore the "divine marriage of wisdom and religion" (48), which he believed had become increasingly estranged.As the translators explain, Ficino saw wisdom (philosophy) and religion (divine law) as forming a coherent whole.He understood the tradition of the prisca theologia (ancient theology) that preceded Christianity and included sages such as Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, and Pythagoras as anticipating Christian doctrine in their philosophical works and
Source: Renaissance and Reformation
Author: Susanne Beiweis
Institution: Mount Allison University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4410087742