Based on the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of London, 2004. - Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-255) and index
Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Chapter One: Pico's Life and Works -- 1. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Biographical Sketch -- 2. Pico's Hebrew Studies -- Chapter Two: The Heptaplus in Outline -- 1. First Exposition: De mundo elementari -- 2. Second Exposition: De mundo caelesti -- 3. Third Exposition: De mundo angelico et invisibili -- 4. Fourth Exposition: De mundo humano idest de hominis natura -- 5. Fifth Exposition: De omnibus mundis divisim ordine consequenti -- 6. Sixth Exposition: De mundorum inter se rerum omnium cognatione -- 7. Seventh Exposition: De felicitate, quae est vita aeterna -- 8. "Expositio primae dictionis, idest in principio" -- 9. Conclusion -- Chapter Three: Exegetical Contexts -- 1. Biblical Interpretation in the Fifteenth Century -- 2. The Authorities Pico Rejected -- 3. Pico's Other Commentaries -- 4. Conclusion -- Chapter Four: The First Proem -- 1. Moses and the Philosophers -- 2. Three Redactions of an Argument for Esotericism: Commento, Apologia, Heptaplus -- 3. In Favour of Esotericism: Early Christian Hermeneutics -- 4. The Christian Reaction against Esotericism: Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages -- 5. Esotericism Maintained: Later Neoplatonism, Pseudo-Dionysius, Kabbalah -- 6. Conclusion: Pico and the Traditions of Esotericism -- Chapter Five: The Second Proem -- 1. Cosmic Structure -- 2. Allegorical Theory -- 3. Conclusion -- Chapter Six: Knowledge, Felecitas and Hermeneutics -- 1. Felicitas and the Intellect in Medieval Philosophy -- 2. The Ascent to Perfection in Pico's Works -- 3. Felicitas, Knowledge and Biblical Exegesis: The Example of Gersonides -- 4. Genesis and Knowledge -- Chapter Seven: The Beginning and the End -- 1. Bereshit: "Expositio primae dictionis, idest in principio" -- 2. Structural Role of the Sabbath -- 3. Sabbath, Jubilee and the Gates of Understanding -- Appendix to Chapter 7 -- Conclusion
This is the first full-length study of the Heptaplus, the commentary on the creation narrative of "Genesis 1" by the celebrated Italian philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. It focuses on Pico's theory of allegory. This theory was fundamentally dissimilar to mainstream medieval and Renaissance approaches to biblical interpretation. Rather than use the standard four senses of Scripture, Pico adopted an esoteric hermeneutic stance characteristic of Neoplatonic and kabbalistic exegesis, and developed an allegorical theory based on epistemology and the idea of intellectual ascent. The exploration of this theme makes it possible not only to interpret the Heptaplus in relation to Pico's other works, but also to assess its role as a response to the contemporary philosophical controversy surrounding the intellect
