The Philosophers and the Bible: The Debate on Sacred Scripture in Early Modern Thought

Description

The Bible is the crucible within which were forged many of the issues most vital to philosophy during the early modern age. Different conceptions of God, the world, and the human being have been constructed (or deconstructed) in relation to the various approaches and readings of the Holy Scriptures. This book explores several of the ways in which philosophers interpreted and made use of the Bible. It aims to provide a new perspective on the subject beyond the traditional opposition “faith versus science” and to reflect the philosophical ways in which the Sacred Scriptures were approached. Early modern philosophers can thus be seen to have transformed the traditional interpretation of the Bible and emphasized its universal moral message. In doing so, they forged new conceptions about nature, politics, and religion, claiming the freedom of thought and scientific inquiry that were to become the main features of modernity. List of Figures ix Notes on Contributors x Introduction / Antonella Del Prete, Anna Lisa Schino, Pina Totaro 1 Part 1. Enquiring on Moses 1. Images of Moses in the Renaissance / Simonetta Bassi 13 2. More on Spinoza and the Authorship of the Pentateuch / Pina Totaro 32 Part 2. Prophet’s Witnessing 3. Tommaso Campanella on the Bible: Ontology, Epistemology and Political Philosophy / Guido Giglioni 51 4. Prophecy and the Prophetic Kingdom of God in the Hobbesian Analysis of the Holy Scriptures / Anna Lisa Schino 76 5. Hermeneutics and Conflict: Spinoza and the Downfall of Exegetical Interpretation / Diego Donna 91 Part 3. Rational Theology and Natural Religion 6. The Bible in the Philosophy of Anne Conway and Henry More / Sarah Hutton 105 7. 'Between Doubt and Knowledge': John Biddle and the English Unitarians in the Time of Locke / Luisa Simonutti 119 8. Immorality and Intolerance in the Bible?: Natural Ethicality and the Interpretation of Scripture in the Writings of Pierre Bayle / Stefano Brogi 143 Part 4. The Moral Message of the Bible 9. Peace and Truth in Polemic: Pascal’s 'Pensées' L974/S771 / Simone D’Agostino 161 10. An Association without Power?: Gift, Recognition, and Democracy in the Hobbesian Conception of Early Christian Communities / Francesco Toto 177 11. 'The Law Inscribed in the Mind': On the Meaning of a Biblical Image in Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise / Giovanni Licata 196 Part 5. The Accommodation Doctrine 12. Firmamentum: La querelle théologico-philologique du ciel étoilé, de Copernic à Kepler / Édouard Mehl 217 13. L’exégèse du dernier Mersenne et le cartésianisme / Claudio Buccolini 233 14. 'Accommoder la Théologie à ma façon de philosopher': Descartes and Dutch Cartesians Interpreting the Bible / Antonella Del Prete 248 15. Wolff, Spinoza, and the Interpretation of Scripture / Matteo Favaretti Camposampiero 262 16. Natural Philosophy and Scripture in Isaac Newton’s 'Principia mathematica' / Franco Giudice 278 Index Nominum 293