The Bible and Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Italy

Jewish and Christian Physicians in Search of Truth

Andrew D. Berns

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781107065543
• eBook ISBN:
  9781316164471
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

The Bible and Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Italy explores the reciprocal relationship between biblical interpretation and natural philosophy in sixteenth-century Italy. The book augments our knowledge of the manifold applications of medical expertise in the Renaissance and of the multiple ways in which the Bible was read by educated people who lacked theological training. Andrew D. Berns demonstrates that many physicians in sixteenth-century Italy, Jewish and Christian alike, took a keen interest in the Bible and post-biblical religious literature. Berns identifies the intellectual tools that Renaissance doctors and natural philosophers brought to bear on their analysis of the Bible and assesses how their education and professional experience helped them acquire, develop, and use those tools. The Bible and Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Italy argues that the changing nature of medical culture in the Renaissance inspired physicians to approach the Bible not only as a divine work but also as a historical and scientific text.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Translation, Transliteration, and Names
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 “This Is What King David Meant”
• 2 Pliny, Papyrus, and the Bible
• 3 “The Grandeur of the Science of God”
• 4 Jewish-Christian Relations in Sixteenth-Century Italy
• 5 “I Seek the Truth from Whomever Pronounces It”
• Conclusion
• Appendix I The Ancient Israelite Incense Mixture
• Appendix II Ulisse Aldrovandi and Hebrew
• Appendix III The Index to Portaleone’s Responsorum et consultationum medicinalium liber (1607)
• Bibliography
• Index