Melchior Inchofer, Giordano Bruno, and the soul of the world.

Following Galileo's trial of 1633, the Jesuit theologian Melchior Inchofer, author of the most negative reports used by the Roman Inquisition against Galileo, repudiated the Copernicans for the 'heresy' of the soul of the world (anima mundi), in an unpublished manuscript. I show that Inchofer's argu...

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Published in:Annals of Science Vol. 76; no. 3/4; pp. 267 - 303
Main Author: Martinez, Alberto A.
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jul-Oct2019
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Jul-Oct2019
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        10.1080/00033790.2019.1709129
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        atl: Melchior Inchofer, Giordano Bruno, and the soul of the world.
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        au: Martinez, Alberto A.
        affil: Department of History, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
      su:
        Bruno, Giordano, 1548-1600
        Inchofer, Melchior
        Lansbergen, Philips
        Theologians
        Catholics
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        subj:
          Bruno, Giordano, 1548-1600
          Inchofer, Melchior
          Lansbergen, Philips
          Theologians
          Catholics
      keyword:
        Copernicans
        Galileo
        Giordano Bruno
        Inquisition
        Melchior Inchofer
        religion
        soul of the world
      ab: Following Galileo's trial of 1633, the Jesuit theologian Melchior Inchofer, author of the most negative reports used by the Roman Inquisition against Galileo, repudiated the Copernicans for the 'heresy' of the soul of the world (anima mundi), in an unpublished manuscript. I show that Inchofer's arguments applied far more to the beliefs of Giordano Bruno than to those of Galileo. Since antiquity, various Christian authorities had repudiated several beliefs about the anima mundi as 'heretical', hence I review their critiques against Pythagoras, Origen, and Peter Abelard, for allegedly asserting animistic beliefs about the Earth, or a universal spirit, or that souls move the heavenly bodies. Still, in the Renaissance such beliefs were defended by several advocates of Copernicus, including Bruno, William Gilbert, Johannes Kepler, and Philips Lansbergen, who all claimed that Earth moves because it has a soul. By comparing Inchofer's works and some of the Roman Inquisition's earlier censures against Bruno, I argue that the repudiation by many prominent Catholic theologians of pagan notions of the anima mundi as heretical contributed partly to the later theological opposition to the Copernicans.
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