Description: 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 postbiblical 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.
Brief description: Andrew D. Berns is Assistant Professor of History at the University of South Carolina.
Review Quotes: 'This is a fascinating book for all who are working on the intellectual cultures of late sixteenth-and early seventeenth-century Italy ... By drawing mostly on hitherto unexamined and very rare texts, Berns unearths amazing new evidence for a vivid interconfessional exchange between Jewish and Christian doctors in Northern Italy ... Berns displays an impressive erudition in his command of vernacular Italian, Latin, and Hebrew sources, many of which have remained in manuscript. ...Berns also demonstrates an enviable knowledge of the relevant scholarly literature.' Sergius Kodera, Renaissance Quarterly